Square Kilometre Array brings galactic data to stellar researchers at UVic

June 14, 2024

The University of Victoria is now the home of Canada’s inaugural Square Kilometre Array Observatory Regional Centre (SRC).

On June 3, 2024 the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) announced an eight-year, $34.7 million agreement with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). The funding enables the country’s membership in the large international Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKA), a long-term endeavour to build and operate the largest radio telescope arrays in the world. Complementary arrays in South Africa and Australia will provide remarkable detail about the universe so scientists can explore previously inaccessible areas like the inner workings of galaxies and extreme environments around black holes.

Hosting the regional centre at UVic builds on existing expertise of our world-class Research Computing Services team and the Arbutus Cloud, Canada’s largest cloud computing installation for academic research.

The UVic team has worked with the NRC for more than 15 years, developing and implementing new ways of applying computing technology to enable scientific outcomes, explains Ryan Enge, director of Research Computing Services at UVic.

“That’s the unique value UVic brings,” says Jeff Albert, Manager and Architect, Advanced Research Computing Infrastructure. “I think it’s safe to say we’re leading the world in some of these areas.”

Which is why the NRC and Alliance are trusting UVic to host the first—and for the foreseeable future, the only—Square Kilometre Array Observatory Regional Centre in Canada. The first hardware from this funding is scheduled to arrive in July, with another purchase order being issued the same month.

“The amount of equipment we’re going to bring in over the life of this project will more than double the scale of Arbutus itself,” says Albert.

The project will also fund three full-time staff: one is already at UVic, funded by NRC for previous projects, and two more will be hired over the summer.

“We’re developing new technologies for using this new equipment,” says Enge. “We want to make sure we have the people to help with those investigations.”

“And that tide raises all boats at UVic,” adds Albert. “The technology we’re developing for the Square Kilometre Array can be used for many other research projects as well.”

While many members of the UVic team know the technology inside and out, there are some who work both sides of the equation.

“Belaid Moa and Sarah Huber on the Research Computing Services team are very aware of the actual science,” says Enge. “They interpret the scientific outcomes the researchers are looking for and how to map that onto the infrastructure we provide. They’re the translation layer for us.”

“Having that broad range of experiences on the team, everything from pure technologists to integrators at the architecture level to the pure science folks who have an awareness of compute, plus the cybersecurity and the research software folks who are looking at how to make those things sustainable in the long run…that’s a really strong mix,” Albert says. “Building that community of excellence here makes UVic that much more competitive as a global research university.”

And that will take us to the stars and beyond.