European DN EDUCADO: Exploring the Deep Universe by Computational Analysisof Data from Observations

The team led by Johan H. Knapen from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) had the kickoff meeting for our Horizon Europe D N EDUCADO (project number 101119830) in Tenerife in January 2024. The project aims to foster extensive collaboration between the fields of astronomy and computer science. This collaboration will leverage the expertise of specialists from both sectors to detect previously unseen numbers of faint observable galaxies, analyse the frequency, types and characteristics of dwarf galaxies, and compare them to the Milky Way. The project will also provide training for 11 doctoral candidates to develop high-quality methods in both fields.

From the University of Groningen researchers from both Astronomy and Computer Science will supervise associated doctoral candidates. In particular, Reynier Peletier from the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, as well as Michael H.F. Wilkinson and Kerstin Bunte from the Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence will contribute with expertise spanning the formation and evolution of galaxies, image analysis and machine learning. Together we will reliably and reproducibly detect unprecedented numbers of the faintest observable galaxies from new large-area surveys, study the morphology, populations, and distribution of various classes of dwarf galaxies and compare their populations and properties across different environments.