Around 70 participants from across Europe and beyond have gathered in Noto, Sicily, for the XI European Radio Interferometry School (ERIS 2026), taking place from 7 to 11 September and hosted by the Institute of Radio Astronomy, part of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF).
The school is being held at the Consorzio Universitario Mediterraneo Orientale and has a global dimension, with participants coming from countries across Europe as well as South Africa, Ghana, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Colombia, Brazil and Chile. With different academic and professional backgrounds, ranging from Master’s and PhD students to early-career researchers, they are part of a new generation of radio astronomers that ERIS is helping to train.
Over five days, experts from universities and research institutions around the world combined lectures with hands-on sessions, covering topics ranging from the fundamentals of radio interferometry to observing strategies and advanced data processing and analysis techniques.
The programme covers calibration and imaging, spectral-line and polarisation observations, Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), proposal preparation and also explored the prospects for modern radio astronomy and its connections with multi-wavelength and multi-messenger astronomy.
The programme included a visit to the Noto Radio Astronomical Station, a member station of the European VLBI Network (EVN), and its 32-metre radio telescope, as well as an opportunity to explore the city, renowned for its Baroque architecture and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto”.
ERIS 2026 is sponsored by INAF and the Astrophysics Centre for Multi-messenger Studies in Europe (ACME), funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme.
By Daria Guidetti (Communications Lead, INAF Institute of Radio Astronomy)
Image Credit : INAF