Women in STEM: Shagita Gounden

Shagita Gounden is a systems engineer working on the world's largest radio telescope, an Executive MBA candidate at Cambridge Judge Business School, and a member of St Edmund's College. Here, she tells us about being part of a massive global science project, the benefits of working with an international team, and how it makes her hopeful as a South African. As a systems engineer, I am part of the team responsible for designing the software for the world's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The team includes representatives from over 100 organisations across 20 countries. My main motivation is the chance to be part of a global collaboration that is contributing to creating an instrument of this scale that will ultimately lead to expanding our knowledge of the universe. To be part of a project of this scale, that is breaking new ground in engineering and astronomy, is a true privilege. A big part of my day-to-day is the interaction with other engineers and astronomers from all over the world.