Swiss SKA Days 2026

31 Aug 2026, 10:00 → 2 Sept 2026, 15:45 Europe/Zurich

Room 328, 3rd floor (HES-SO/HE-Arc - Neuchâtel)

Joanna Jermini-Howard, Jean-Paul Kneib (EPFL), Carolyn Crichton

We are pleased to invite you to participate to the 10th edition of the Swiss SKA days. During this exciting 3-day event we will discuss the ambitious SKA radio-astronomy project at the forefront of advanced technology and computing.

The program will include the following topics addressed in plenary and parallel sessions:

• Updates on the SKA Observatory and precursor facilities
• SKA Regional Centers
• Astrophysics with the SKA and precursors
• Computing, Simulations, Data Science and more...

The Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO) project is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with eventually over one square kilometer of collecting area in South Africa and Australia. The SKA Days 2026 will discuss the Swiss interest and participation in this ambitious project.

The 10th Swiss SKA meeting will take place from Monday 31 August 2026 to Wednesday 2 September 2026 in Neuchâtel on the campus of HES-SO/HE-Arc.

Monday, 31 August

10:00 → 10:30 Registration & Welcome Coffee

10:30 → 12:00 Monday morning: Opening Session - Day 1

Convener: Prof. Jean-Paul Kneib (EPFL)

10:30 Welcome

Speaker: Prof. Jean-Paul Kneib (EPFL)

SwissSKADays2026_JPK.pptx

10:35 Welcome to Swiss SKA Days 2026 from the Haute Ecole ARC (HE-Arc)

Speakers: Hatem Ghorbel (HES-SO / He-Arc), Tristan Maillard (HES-SO / He-Arc)

SKA CH_HEArcING2026.pptx

10:50 Welcome from He-Arc - Logistical information

Speaker: Emmanuel de Salis (HES-SO / He-Arc)

11:00 Switzerland’s perspective on the SKA project

Speaker: Dr Simon Berger (CH - SERI)

260831_Simon-Berger_SERI-perspective_V0.pdf

11:15 2026 SKACH Update

Speaker: Carolyn Crichton (EPFL)

SKACH Meeting 2026_Carolyn Crichton.pdf

11:30 SKACH Communications Update

Speaker: Tanya Petersen (EPFL)

SKACH Comms SKA Days August 2026.pptx

11:45 VIRUP: Project Updates + Demo

Speaker: Florian Cabot (EPFL)

FlorianCabotPresentation.pptx

12:00 → 13:00 Lunch (Group photo)

13:00 → 15:05 Monday afternoon: SKAO Regional Centers (SRCs)

13:00 Science Delivery Updates

Speaker: Chin-Shin Chang (University of Geneva)

SD_update.pdf

13:15 Swiss SRC Roadmap to Science Verification

Speaker: Rohini Joshi (FHNW)

Swiss SKA days 2026 CHSRC Roadmap Neuchatel RJ.pptx

13:30 ukSRC Operations and Challenges

Speaker: Sean McConkey (University of Cambridge)

ukSRC-Node-Presentation.pdf

13:45 From zero to espSRC: building the Spanish SKA Regional Centre

Speakers: Manuel Parra-Royón (SPSRC, IAA-Spain), Ms Susana Sánchez-Expósito (IAA-CSIC)

espSRC.pdf

espSRC.pdf

espSRC.pdf

14:00 Stretch & Refresh

14:05 Getting ready for Science Verification at sweSRC: current setup and future plans

Speaker: Dr Franz Kirsten (Chalmers University of Technology)

FranzKirsten.pdf

14:20 CHSRC infrastructure and development

Speakers: Carolina Lindqvist (EPFL), Pablo Llopis Sanmillan (EPFL), Mr Pascal Herzog (FHNW)

SKA days 2026 - CHSRC infra and development.pdf

14:35 A Hybrid Kubernetes Infrastructure for the Swiss SKA Regional Centre

Speaker: Elia Oggian (CSCS - Swiss National Supercomputing Centre)

hybrid_k8s_infrastructure_skach_clean.pptx

14:50 Architectural overview of the German deSRC SRCNet node

Speaker: Marc Drobek (TUD, DZA)

dSRC node architecture Sept 2026.pdf

15:05 → 15:35 Coffee Break

15:35 → 17:15 Monday afternoon: Data Science & Imaging (Part 1)

15:35 Data-Driven Generative Priors for Radio Interferometric Imaging

Speaker: Massimo De Santis (HES-SO)

data_driven_generative_priors_talk_final.pdf

15:50 DDRM for radio interferometry

Speaker: Emma Tolley (EPFL)

DiffusionRadio_SKACH.pdf

16:05 The R2D2 deep neural network series paradigm for robust ultra-fast precision imaging in radio astronomy.

Speaker: Prof. Yves Wiaux (Heriot-Watt Edinburgh)

R2D2_Talk_Yves_Wiaux.pdf

16:20 Distributed Fourier Domain Dedispersion on GPUs

Speaker: Piyush Panchal (EPFL)

Distributed Fourier Domain Dedispersion on GPUs finished.pptx

16:35 Stretch & Refresh

16:45 SKA-SDP-ready simulations and imaging for radio astronomy

Speaker: Massimo De Santis (HES-SO)

SKA-SDP-ready simulations_n.pdf

17:00 skasim - a researcher-oriented simulation package for SKA

Speaker: Cristobal Bordiu (Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC))

cbordiu_skasim_SwissSKADays_2026.pdf

17:15 → 17:35 Monday afternoon: SKAO Science book

17:15 Dark Matter with the SKAO

Speaker: Emma Tolley (EPFL)

SKACH_DM.pdf

17:20 Review of the Advancing Astrophysics with the SKA II: Imaging the 21-cm Signal

Speaker: Michele Bianco (ETH Zurich)

SwissSKAday_MBianco_260831_img.pdf

17:25 Review of the Advancing Astrophysics with the SKA II: Inference & ML

Speaker: Michele Bianco (ETH Zurich)

SwissSKAday_MBianco_260831_InferML.pdf

17:30 Highlights from the AASKAII chapter: "The Role of Artificial Intelligence in the SKA Era"

Speaker: Dr Philipp Denzel (Centre for Artificial Intelligence, ZHAW)

aaska2_denzel01_highlights.pdf

Online version

18:00 → 21:00 Welcome Reception

Tuesday, 1 September

08:30 → 09:00 Arrival & Coffee

09:00 → 10:00 Tuesday morning: Opening Session - Day 2

09:00 SKAO - General Update & Membership

Speaker: Mr Thijs Geurts (SKAO)

Presentation-SKAO Update-SEP 01 2026.pdf

09:20 Preparing for science with the SKA telescopes

Speaker: Sarrvesh Sridhar (Square Kilometre Array Observatory)

Preparing for SV - Sarrvesh.pdf

09:40 Presentation of SDSC

Speaker: Luis Barba Flores (SDSC)

Swiss SKA Days_SDSC.pdf

10:00 → 11:30 Karabo Team Meeting - BY INVITATION ONLY (If interested please contact Rohini Joshi)

10:00 → 10:05 Stretch & Refresh

10:05 → 10:55 Tuesday morning: Industry Session

Convener: Michel Hübner (Swiss ILO Office)

10:10 CSP.LMC: Five Years of Progress and the Challenges Ahead

Speaker: Ivana Novak (Cosylab Switzerland)

SwissSKADays2026.pptx

10:25 State-of-the-art time & frequency references for mid-site : overview and progress report

Speaker: Gilles CIBIEL (T4Science)

10:40 SKAO Procurement Update

Speaker: Paul Oosthuizen

2026 Swiss SKA Day Presentation V1 [Lecture seule].pptx

10:55 → 11:15 Coffee Break

11:15 → 12:30 Meeting on SRCNet Execution frameworks deep-dive - BY INVITATION ONLY (If interested please contact Rohini Joshi)

Speakers: Dev Null (Curtin University & AusSRC), Rohini Joshi (FHNW)

Discussion session slides, notes

11:15 → 12:45 Tuesday morning: *SPECIAL SESSION*: Atomic Clocks Development in Switzerland

Convener: Michel Hübner (Swiss ILO Office)

11:15 Global future projects in Radio-Asronomy

Speaker: Chin-Shin Chang (University of Geneva)

Future_radio_projects.pdf

11:30 Presentation of SAFRAN Timing Technologies SA

Speaker: Gilles CIBIEL (T4Science)

11:45 Presentation of Rolex Quantum

Speaker: Nicolas Torcheboeuf (Rolex Quantum)

12:00 Presentation of Oscilloquartz SA

Speaker: Claude Besse (Oscilloquartz)

Oscilloquartz_Optical Cesium_Swiss SKA_Sept 2026.pdf

12:15 Presentation of METAS - The Federal Institute of Metrology

Speaker: Antoine Jallageas (METAS)

2026 - SKACH - Antoine Jallageas - v2.pdf

12:30 Discussion + Q&A

12:45 → 13:45 Lunch

13:45 → 15:35 Tuesday afternoon: Dark & Quiet Skies

13:45 From climate obstruction to space pollution: the ideologies driving planetary collapse

Speaker: Prof. Julia Steinberger (University of Lausanne)

Steinberger_IdeologiesClimateObstructionSiliconValley_FINAL.pdf

14:25 SKAO - Dark & Quiet Skies Update

Speaker: Isabel Broughton (SKAO)

SKA Swiss Presentation 20260828 FINAL_IB.pptx

14:45 Protecting the radio sky in the SKA era: an update from the IAU CPS

Speaker: Dr Chris Finlay (EPFL)

CPS_SwissSKADays_2026-2.pptx

15:00 TABASCAL: Latest results on EDA2 data and initial software release

Speaker: Dr Chris Finlay (EPFL)

TABASCAL - Swiss SKA Days 2026.pptx

15:15 Forecasts on the potential impact of Radio Frequency Interference from future satellite mega constellations on the SKA Observatory

Speaker: Nicolas Cerardi (EPFL, Swizerland)

Impact of Radio Frequency Interference from future satellite mega constellations on the SKA Observatory

13:45 → 14:45 Tuesday afternoon: Data Science & Imaging (Part 2)

13:45 New Methods for Efficient Representation Learning in Radio Astronomy

Speaker: Erica Lastufka (University of Geneva)

SKADays_26_Lastufka.pdf

14:00 Label-Guided Self-Supervised Representations for Scalable Radio Source Analysis

Speaker: Markus Bredberg (EPFL)

Bredberg_SSSL_Radio_Galaxies_SKACH_26

14:15 Evaluating Deep Learning Compression Methods for Radio Interferometric Visibility Data in SKAO

Speaker: Xiaoran Chen (Swiss Data Science Center)

skack_days_0901.pdf

14:30 Deep-learning in visibility space

Speaker: Dr Philipp Denzel (Centre for Artificial Intelligence, ZHAW)

deep_learning_in_visibility_space_Denzel.pdf

Online version

14:45 → 15:45 Tuesday afternoon: Discussion for Future Plans for SRCNode Operations

Convener: Rohini Joshi (FHNW)

16:10 → 17:30 Afternoon Activity - Town Visit

Town visit with touristic little train - 1 ride taking place at 16.30 from downtown. Departure from HE-ARC at 16:10. More details on our website.

Wednesday, 2 September

08:30 → 09:00 Arrival & Coffee

09:00 → 09:05 Wednesday morning: Opening Session - Day 3

Convener: Carolyn Crichton

09:05 → 10:15 Wednesday morning: Astro Science

09:05 MeerKAT Observations of the Saraswati Supercluster 3 (MOSS 3) - A look into the radio galaxy populations around two dynamically different core clusters.

Speaker: Robert Kincaid (EPFL)

SWISS SKA Neachetal(2).pptx

09:20 A Preview of the SKA Era: Mapping the Diffuse Universe with MeerKAT and the power of 3GC (Third-Generation Calibration)

Speaker: Konstantinos Kolokythas (Rhodes University / South African Radio Astronomy Observatory)

09:40 "Super spirals" at cosmic noon - Where are they headed? (And: what have they been up to?)

Speaker: Dr Mark Sargent (EPFL LASTRO)

presMTSargent_020926.pdf

10:00 Empirical beam characterization of HIRAX prototype using solar transits

Speaker: Dr Ajith Sampath (University of Geneva)

PPTSwissSKAdays_Neuchatel_2026_HIRAX_Ajith.pptx

SwissSKAdays_Neuchatel_2026_HIRAX_Ajith.pdf

10:15 → 10:45 Coffee Break

10:45 → 11:45 WORKSHOP: Preparing for the first cycle of SKA-LOW Science verification

Speaker: Dr Mark Sargent (EPFL LASTRO)

WS_SVprep_020926.pdf

10:45 → 11:05 Wednesday morning: Theory & Simulations

10:45 Subsonic turbulence with SPH-EXA

Speaker: Ruben Cabezon (University of Basel)

Subsonic_turbulence.pptx

11:05 → 12:25 Wednesday morning: HPC & Eco-Computing

11:05 GPU-Accelerated Standalone Particle-to-Grid Library for Cosmological Simulations

Speaker: Dr Osman Seckin Simsek (University of Basel)

2026-09-02-SKACH-P2G.pdf

11:25 Dynamic Parallel Pipelines for Radio Astronomy: Faster DP3 Predictions for Calibration and Imaging

Speaker: Hamza Chouh (EPFL)

DP3 performance analysis and optimization

11:45 Radiostreams: Imaging the sky at a 1Hz frequency

Speaker: Adrien Devresse (SKACH)

breakthrought-listen3.pdf

breakthrought-listen3.pptx

12:05 Implicit neural representations for radio astronomy

Speaker: Janie du Preez (Rhodes University)

INR for radio astronomy.pdf

12:35 → 12:55 Closing Remarks - End of Sessions and Conference (no lunch provided)