Anna Scaife

Professor of radio astronomy at the University of Manchester, Anna Scaife also serves as academic co-director of Policy@Manchester and as director of the Jodrell Bank Interferometry Centre of Excellence. Her research focuses on the use of AI in data-intensive astrophysics discovery, and in 2019 she was named one of the inaugural class of five AI Fellows at the UK's Alan Turing Institute. The design of the computing and storage for a European SKA Regional Data Centre is only one of the technical radio astronomy development and scientific computing initiatives she has previously overseen as part of the Square Kilometre Array project.

In addition to her scientific work, Anna also manages two training programs that offer scholarships to students from Southern Africa and Latin America who want to study big data and data-intensive research at the graduate level in the UK. The World Economic Forum recognized Anna as one of thirty scientists under the age of 40 in 2014 for their contributions to pushing the boundaries of science, engineering, or technology in fields with significant social effects. She received the Blaauw Chair in Astrophysics (prize chair) in 2017 from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands for her remarkable scientific accomplishments, extensive astronomical knowledge, and distinguished worldwide reputation. The Royal Astronomical Society's Jackson-Gwilt Medal, given for the best innovation, enhancement, or advancement of astronomical apparatus or processes, was given to Anna in 2019.