Nigeria

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of Leiden University’s Faculty of Science with two Nigerian universities, the Center for Basic Space Science and University of Nigeria.

Project summary

The European Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (E-ROAD) at the Faculty of Science, Leiden University, regards collaboration and exchange with the ROAD office in Nigeria as an important strategic goal. Both offices are part of a global network, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and one of the aims is to strengthen bonds with sister offices by sharing the research and management expertise available in each region. This will equip astronomers in low-income countries with the necessary technical and soft skills and therefore stimulate capacity building. The project will thus contribute to sustainable development.

Collaboration and exchange between the E-ROAD in Leiden and the West African ROAD in Nigeria will increase Nigerian research capacity in astronomy and related technological fields, including project management, and will build capacity in skills that can be applied both within and outside academia.

The Center for Basic Space Science aims to expose its staff to the best international expertise and facilities to improve their professional skills. Upon return, participants will serve as mentors to other scientists at the Center. Leiden University will train the Nigerian staff in astronomy topics and methodologies that are currently lacking. The University of Nigeria is one of the leading universities in Nigeria, accounting for the training of over 90% of astronomers in the sub-region. It encourages staff and students to gain international experience. Exchanges between the ROAD offices in Nigeria and the Netherlands are therefore an important strategic goal for all partners involved, to share research and management expertise and promote mutual learning.

The 2022 project builds on previous successful collaboration between Leiden and Nigeria through the ICM programme. For more information about the previous project, take a look at the 2020 project page.

More information

• Office of Astronomy for Development
• International Astronomical Union

Interview

Ikechukwu Obi visited Leiden University several times with an Erasmus+ ICM grant, in Summer 2023 and more recently in Summer 2024. In this interview, he talks about his experience: his background, the project he is currently working on, and the impact of international collaboration through ICM.

Who are you?
My name is Ikechukwu Anthony Obi. I hail from Anambra State in the West African country, Nigeria, where I was born and raised in a middle class family of four, a girl and three boys. I obtained my first and second degree from the department of Physics and Astronomy in the University of Nigeria. Thereafter I proceded to the International School of advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, for a fully-funded PhD in Astrophysics. For my doctoral reserach, I developed a model for the interpretation of spectral and photometric observations of nearby and distant star-forming galaxies in our universe. Currently, I am permanently employed at the Centre for Basic Space Science & Astronomy located in Nsukka, Nigeria.

What project have you been working on at Leiden University?
The ICM programme opened up a new colloborative research for me with the ILT (International LOFAR Telescope) research group of the Leiden University's Faculty of Science. I am working on a project that involves studying a new family of star-forming galaxies whose observation at the radio part of the electromagnectic spectrum was recently made possible by the state-of-the-art Pan European radio telescope facility, ILT. My primary aim in this project is to shed more light on how the radio emission from these galaxies relates to the rate at which stars are formed in them as well as the dependance of this relationship on some other physical properties of the galaxies such as it's mass. The result of such investigation is in general relevant for our understanding of how galaxies formed and evolved to what we see today.

Why is international cooperation so important in your field of expertise? And do you have any tipps for future participants in the ICM programme?
The international cooperation is important to my field of expertise because it offers me a face-to-face interaction with the experts in the reduction of data at low radio frequency. A similar radio telescope operating at similar frequency is currently being constructed in Africa and when completed will create room for synergies and further colloborations with the ILT team. I'll encourage future participants to always put in their best, despite the challenges (such as visa and housing issues) which are always there at the beginning. In the end, the ICM programme has a lot to offer.