A new era in
astrophysics:

We are pleased to announce the 2025 SKAO General Science Meeting, A new era in astrophysics: Preparing for early science with the SKAO, to be held in the week 16-20 June in the beautiful town of Görlitz, Germany. Taking place just two years before the SKA telescopes will be tested on the first community-chosen targets, the meeting will bring together scientists from across the globe to discuss and collaborate on the cutting-edge science opportunities that the Observatory will provide in its early years of operations. Online participation will be supported for the whole week for those unable to attend in person.

The meeting will include three days of plenary sessions, plus one and a half days of parallel sessions organised to maximise collaborative discussion between scientists. Presentations from the community will preview early SKAO science, while special Observing with the SKAO sessions will share detailed telescope capabilities, operational policies and observer tools for planning SKAO observations. We particularly encourage the participation of early career scientists, who will be the major users of the SKA telescopes.

Görlitz itself will soon be home to the brand new German Centre for Astrophysics (Deutsches Zentrum für Astrophysik; DZA), a brand new large-scale research centre that will enable top-level astronomical research, the processing of gigantic data streams from next-generation telescopes such as the SKAO’s, and the development of novel technology. We are proud to partner with both the DZA and the Association for Data-Intensive Radio Astronomy (VdR) to bring this exciting event to our community.