Leadership & community

Driving the global radio astronomy community with strategic vision, collaborative governance, and capacity building.

Strategic roles

  • Science Community Director, UK SKA Regional Centre — leads Team Sapphire across science support, industry engagement, training, and outreach to deliver SKA-ready services.
  • Science engagement & delivery lead, UKSRC directorate — coordinates national user journeys for SKA data products.
  • UKSRC representative on the SKAO science committee — ensures UK community priorities shape Observatory operations.
  • Honorary Research Fellow, University of Manchester — fosters long-term collaboration on VLBI science and training.

Governance & committees

  • Chair, European VLBI Network programme committee (2026–).
  • Co-chair, SKAO VLBI Science Working Group (2023–).
  • Member, African Millimetre Telescope science committee (2024–).
  • Member, European VLBI Network programme committee (2016–present).
  • Founder & chair, SKA-VLBI simulations task force.
  • Core member, e-MERGE legacy survey; SPARCS; SKA Extragalactic Continuum Working Group.
  • Scientific referee for e-MERLIN Time Allocation Committee and peer-reviewed journals (MNRAS, A&A, Nature).
  • Member, South African Astronomy Community Task Team and Interim Task Team.
  • Partner contact, South African National Astronomy & Space Science programme.
  • Member, University of Pretoria HPC steering committee.

Grant leadership & fundraising

  • Africa-UK Physics Partnership (2025–27, UKRI) — project lead establishing geodetic capacity across Africa.
  • DARA Phase 3 (2024–27) — co-investigator leading the data reduction training work package for the human capital development programme.
  • RADIOBLOCKS — New science in radio astronomy (2023–26, EU) — contributor advancing end-to-end radio astronomy data chains.
  • Research development programme grant (2019–22, £6.1M) — supported VLBI capability growth at the University of Pretoria.
  • Secured mobility, seed, and student scholarships through SARAO, NRF, STFC, and Imperial College bursaries.

Building inclusive communities

Jack designs programmes that grow the next generation of radio astronomers. He led the Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) data-reduction curriculum, created VLBI tutorials adopted by NRAO, and continues to deliver workshops across Botswana, Zambia, South Africa, and the UK. His outreach ranges from primary-school STEM events to national festivals, and he established the annual Dr Jack Radcliffe Award for Physics to recognise outstanding students.