On October 23, 2026, a Swiss astronomy delegation from the University of Geneva, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Basel visited the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO), Chinese Academy of Sciences.The delegation and SHAO researchers conducted academic exchanges on Square Kilometre Array (SKA) science cooperation, regional centre development and frontier research in radio astronomy, and visited the SHAO Sheshan campus. The visit enhanced mutual understanding between the Chinese and Swiss astronomical communities and laid a foundation for deeper practical cooperation between the two sides.

In the morning, SHAO teams gave academic reports on spectral observation, detection of the Epoch of Reionization, construction of the China SKA Regional Centre (cnSRC), pulsars, galaxy clusters and optical interferometry, presenting their research progress and science preparations for the SKA. Swiss scientists introduced progress in the construction of the Swiss SKA Regional Centre (chSRC), sustainable computing, radio frequency interference mitigation and dark matter cosmology. Following the reports, the two sides held in-depth discussions on areas of common interest, covering low-frequency radio observation and data processing, pulsar timing and gravitational-wave background detection, SKA sensitivity upgrades and global Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) coordination, integral field spectroscopy instrumentation, sustainable computing and dedicated radio astronomy hardware, and dark matter simulation and radio image reconstruction.

At the meeting, the Chinese side presented recent progress of the cnSRC, while the Swiss side shared its cooperation plans for the chSRC. The two sides focused on potential cooperation in joint SKA science development, federated computing for regional centres, and applications of astronomical large models.

In the afternoon, the delegation visited the Sheshan campus. The delegation first visited the cnSRC computer room, where the project team presented an introduction to the China SKA Regional Centre, and then toured the Tianma 65-m radio telescope to learn about its operation and observation activities.

The visit enhanced mutual understanding between the Chinese and Swiss astronomical communities and provided an opportunity for SHAO to showcase its progress in scientific research and SKA Regional Centre development. Both sides expressed their readiness to take this exchange as an opportunity to further deepen practical cooperation in SKA science, regional centre development, computational astronomy and instrument development, and to jointly advance the development of international radio astronomy.