Overview of Project

The result of social innovation is all around us. There are signs that social innovations are becoming more and more important. We are submerged by a tsunami of Big Data and data driven innovations. Big Data have been put into practice to help solve social problems. However, small emerging countries in this field are always struggling. This can be due to lack of resources (human and technology) or inadequate use of resources available.

While the African continent is seeing a surge of funding for pushing forward astronomy, shockingly Mauritius is left behind. Big Data Analytics is an emerging field and training new generation data scientists can help alleviate some of the issues for analysing future astronomical data. We intend to train African learners in Big data Analytics in Astronomy and also showcase how it can be used to solve problems and bring about social innovation.

We present a new ecosystem for social innovation through Astronomy education via Big Data Analytics. We look at novel methods for educating University learners about Big Data in Astronomy through an innovative pedagogical Education method. Participants will learn how they can apply their various skills to contribute to the betterment of society. We believe that through education at all levels, we can make a paradigm shift for the future generation to prepare them to face the data driven deluge that will present itself once big Astronomical projects such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) come online.