After 18 years involvement with the development of the multi-billion dollar telescope, there’s not much Professor Carole Jackson does not know about the Square Kilometre Array.
Carole was lured to Perth in 2013 with the award of a prestigious WA Fellowship and has made a strong addition to the ICRAR leadership team.
She brings more than 25 years experience in both industry and research, and has particular interests in radio-loud active galactic nuclei, technology development and industry partnerships.
Prior to joining ICRAR, Carole spent 10 years at csiro, where she led the design and commissioning of the 36 dish antennas that make up the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP).
She led the formation of the international SKA Dish Consortium, a group comprising members from South Africa, the UK, China, Canada, Italy and Sweden, including a number of major industry partners.
Carole says the most exciting aspect of moving to ICRAR has been the opportunity to rekindle her own astronomical research, applying her expertise in the evolution of active galactic nuclei to observations flowing from telescopes such as the Murchison Widefield Array.
“ Over the next few years there’s going to be a wealth of new results from these new low frequency surveys.”
Carole loves the discovery aspect of her work, obtaining insights into the workings of the Universe such as how galaxies that were once so powerful seem to have faded away.
“The other side I see is how you can build big groups, and watch those teams really producing great work,”
she says.
“It is all about recruiting the right people and then allowing them to go do what they’re really good at.”