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Welcome to the web site for the MeerKAT Science Workshop.   This workshop is being coordinated by the SKA South Africa Project Office and the South African SKA Science Committee for 25-27 May, 2016.   The workshop will take place at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study facility in the scenic town of Stellenbosch near Cape Town. 

Construction of MeerKAT, a 64-element array of 13.5-m offset parabolic antennas, is well underway at the African SKA central site on the South African Karoo plateau.  The first 32 elements of MeerKAT will be released for early shared-risk science programs in late 2016, and the full array will be operational in late 2017.   MeerKAT is a precursor of the SKA mid-frequency dish array, and following several years of operation as a South African telescope will be incorporated into the SKA phase 1 facility. 

The MeerKAT science program will consist of legacy-style, large survey projects, plus open time available for new proposals.  The MeerKAT Science  Workshop will be a forum for presentation of the updated  plans for the large survey project plans, and for presentations on, and broader discussion of, the scientific potential of MeerKAT.  We thus invite presentation from the large survey program teams as well as presentations on potential MeerKAT science projects not covered by the large survey programs.   

Since the original allocation of observing time the large survey projects there have been significant developments in
  • the technical specifications of MeerKAT,
  • scientific results relevant to the large survey project science goals,  
  • related current or planned large programs on other facilities, and
  • planning for SKA Key Science programs.
For the large survey projects the MeerKAT Science Workshop forms part of a review of time allocations.  The large survey project team presentations are thus requested to include updated project plans, and to detail any plans for early shared-risk science and project data plans.  A separate detailed call for updated project plans will be provide to the survey teams.

Following the workshop an independent Time Allocation Committee will review the time allocations required for the large survey projects and the fraction of time that will be available for an open call for proposals.  The target is to allocate about 70% of the time to the large surveys, and the remaining 30% to open time.  

The registration deadline is 26 February 2016.  The registration fee is R1,500 and the fee for the conference dinner is R375. Both the registration and conference dinner fees are to be paid by credit card on arrival at the conference.

The proceedings of the workshop will be published.