The Local Team

Prof. Paul Baki
Paul Baki is a Professor of Physics and Director of the School of Physical Sciences at the Technical University of Kenya. His special interests are Space Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics.
He is a Fellow of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences (KNAS); a Committee Member of the International Science Council (ISC) Regional Office for Africa; a Member of the International Network of Government Science Advice (INGSA); a Member of Expert Group C (Long Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities) of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS); and a Member of the African Union Working Group on African Space Policy & Space Strategy.
His first degree was in Physics and Mathematics (1992) and he has higher degrees in Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, all from the University of Nairobi.
Dr. Nadir Hashim
Dr. Nadir Hashim is a senior lecturer in the department of Physics at Kenyatta University, where he is in charge of academic programmes and administrative functions. Dr Hashim’s involvement in the development of Kenyan astronomy includes both KOTI and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). He collaborates with international scientists in radiation physics, astronomy and astrophysics.
He is a member of the Kenya Physical Society, the East African Association of Radiation Protection and the East African Astronomical Society. He is also the national coordinator AFRA-NEST (African Network for Nuclear Education Science and Technology) of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).


Susan Murabana Owen
Susan Murabana Owen is the co-founder of The Travelling Telescope Africa, a social business dedicated to promoting science and technology across the continent. In this capacity she travels the length and breadth of Kenya, demonstrating mobile astronomical equipment to schools and other centres of learning. Her mission is to expose young people to a science with which they have normally had no prior contact.
Susan Murabana Owen graduated in Economics and Sociology from the Catholic University in Nairobi in 2002, and took a Masters in Astronomy at James Cooke University (Australia) in 2012. She is President of the African Planetarium Association and National Co-ordinator for both Universe Awareness and Astronomers Without Borders.
Prof. Bitange Ndemo
Bitange Ndemo is an ICT specialist and Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi’s Business School. Prior to this, he was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication, where he initiated many transformative projects, including linking Kenya to the rest of the world through undersea cables; initiating the Kenya Open Data, a portal that makes public Government datasets accessible at no cost to the public; and marketing Kenya as a destination for Business Process Outsourcing.
He has authored several policy papers and provided research based policy advice to the Government of Kenya and other private and public sector institutions.


Richard Vaughan
Richard Vaughan is an award-winning documentary film director with more than thirty-five years’ international experience. Trained at the BBC in London, he has worked in sixteen African countries, as well as Europe, the United States, Japan, India, Israel and Greenland. He has particular experience in scientific and medical issues, having tackled subjects that include primary healthcare; off-grid lighting; energy conservation; forest management; biotechnology; complementary medicine; human/wildlife conflict; and innovative farming techniques.
Richard Vaughan has also written and edited a number of books on the social economy of African countries, as well as reports for the World Bank.
He initiated the Search for an Astronomical Site in Kenya (SASKYA) in 2005, establishing an international network that has now evolved into KOTI.

Prof. Paul Baki
Paul Baki is a Professor of Physics and Director of the School of Physical Sciences at the Technical University of Kenya. His special interests are Space Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics.
He is a Fellow of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences (KNAS); a Committee Member of the International Science Council (ISC) Regional Office for Africa; a Member of the International Network of Government Science Advice (INGSA); a Member of Expert Group C (Long Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities) of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS); and a Member of the African Union Working Group on African Space Policy & Space Strategy.
His first degree was in Physics and Mathematics (1992) and he has higher degrees in Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, all from the University of Nairobi.

Dr. Nadir Hashim
Dr. Nadir Hashim is a senior lecturer in the department of Physics at Kenyatta University, where he is in charge of academic programmes and administrative functions. Dr Hashim’s involvement in the development of Kenyan astronomy includes both KOTI and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). He collaborates with international scientists in radiation physics, astronomy and astrophysics.
He is a member of the Kenya Physical Society, the East African Association of Radiation Protection and the East African Astronomical Society. He is also the national coordinator AFRA-NEST (African Network for Nuclear Education Science and Technology) of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).

Susan Murabana Owen
Susan Murabana Owen is the co-founder of The Travelling Telescope Africa, a social business dedicated to promoting science and technology across the continent. In this capacity she travels the length and breadth of Kenya, demonstrating mobile astronomical equipment to schools and other centres of learning. Her mission is to expose young people to a science with which they have normally had no prior contact.
Susan Murabana Owen graduated in Economics and Sociology from the Catholic University in Nairobi in 2002, and took a Masters in Astronomy at James Cooke University (Australia) in 2012. She is President of the African Planetarium Association and National Co-ordinator for both Universe Awareness and Astronomers Without Borders.

Prof. Bitange Ndemo
Bitange Ndemo is an ICT specialist and Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi’s Business School. Prior to this, he was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication, where he initiated many transformative projects, including linking Kenya to the rest of the world through undersea cables; initiating the Kenya Open Data, a portal that makes public Government datasets accessible at no cost to the public; and marketing Kenya as a destination for Business Process Outsourcing.
He has authored several policy papers and provided research-based policy advice to the Government of Kenya and other private and public sector institutions.

Richard Vaughan
Richard Vaughan is an award-winning documentary film director with more than thirty-five years’ international experience. Trained at the BBC in London, he has worked in sixteen African countries, as well as Europe, the United States, Japan, India, Israel and Greenland. He has particular experience in scientific and medical issues, having tackled subjects that include primary healthcare; off-grid lighting; energy conservation; forest management; biotechnology; complementary medicine; human/wildlife conflict; and innovative farming techniques.
Richard Vaughan has also written and edited a number of books on the social economy of African countries, as well as reports for the World Bank.
He initiated the Search for an Astronomical Site in Kenya (SASKYA) in 2005, establishing an international network that has now evolved into KOTI.