Michael Backes

Institution

University of Namibia

Department of Physics, Chemistry and Material Science

Private Bag 13301
340 Mandume Ndemufayo Ave
Windhoek (NAM)

Extraordinary Professor
Centre for Space Research
North-West University
Potchefstroom (ZA)

Academic Visitor
Department of Physics
University of Oxford
Oxford (UK)

Associate
High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
International Centre for Theoretical Physics
Trieste (I)

Research Interests

Gamma-ray Astronomy, Active Galactic Nuclei, Data Mining

Topics to speak on:

Astronomy for Development, AI, Big Science

Words of Wisdom

Every application is like a lottery: sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. The only certain outcome is that you won’t win if you don’t take part.

Prof. Dr. Dr. Wolfgang Rhode

Biography

Prof. Michael Backes is one of 8 inaugural UNAM Research Chairs and a Professor at the University of Namibia. There, he heads the Namibian H.E.S.S. group, astrophysics research, and the Virtual Institute for Scientific Computing and Artificial Intelligence. Further, he is an Extraordinary Professor at North-West University (ZA), an Academic Visitor at the Department of Physics, University of Oxford (UK), and an Associate of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (I).

He obtained his MSc and PhD from TU Dortmund University in 2008 and 2012, respectively, and spent study visits at the Ruhr-University Bochum (D) in 2005 and the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2006.

Among his awards is the Annie Maunder Medal 2024 of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was elected a member of the Global Young Academy (GYA) (2018–2023), and a Fellow of the GSO Leadership Academy (2018). He was invited to the Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in 2019 as Heraeus Fellow, to the World Science Forum in 2022 as a plenary speaker, as a speaker to the World Laureates Forum in 2023, and to the U.S.-Africa Frontiers in Science Symposium in 2025. He received the University of Namibia Meritorious Award 2017 for Best Academic Performance in the Faculty of Science, and the GfKl Application Award 2012 by the German Data Science Society (GfKl).

He was Namibian-PI on the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project “Namibian participation in the H.E.S.S. observatory 2019-2021”, is Co-Investigator of the recently awarded ERC Synergy grant “Blackholistic”, and Co-PI of the Africa Millimetre Telescope.

He serves as Chair of the Namibia Scientific Society and, before 2023, as Vice-Chair since 2015, and as elected Executive Committee Member of the Global Young Academy from 2021 to 2023. Further, he serves as a voting member on the Steering Committees of H.E.S.S. and of the International Astronomical Union’s Southern African Regional Office of Astronomy for Development.