Yabebal Fantaye
Astrobus Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia · Science
Cosmologist and data scientist Yabebal Fantaye (PhD) was awarded the 2018 AFIELD fellowship for his program Astrobus Ethiopia. Yabebal believes Young Africans should study science because it offers the best way to solve real-world problems.
Yabebal Fantaye was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He has worked in the past 8 years with the Astrobus-Ethiopia project whose mission is to stimulate critical thinking in Africa, and in particular in Ethiopia.
Yabebal strongly believes that exposing young students to the strategy and art of critical and scientific thinking, which is the pillar of the modern world, offers the best way to inspire, empower and connect communities and offer the condition of developmental transformation.
Astrobus Ethiopia is a mobile science-art-innovation outreach program carried out by driving a vehicle from place to place in different locations in Ethiopia. The program’s ambition is to stimulate critical thinking to enable the country’s social and economic development.
Combining exciting activities in astronomy, art and innovation, Astrobus Ethiopia promotes a culture of technological and scientific curiosity, and an opportunity for the public to explore, learn and understand the main elements of modern civilization.
Astrobus Ethiopia team includes social scientists, fashion designers, artists, innovators, scientists, and other professionals to deliver holistic stimulation for critical and scientific thinking.
Yabebal is also a co-founder of 10 Academy, an initiative which trains fresh graduates and places them into high-impact jobs in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence. He is based between Germany and Ethiopia.
He completed his PhD in cosmology at the school for advanced studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy. He has worked in research areas including applying artificial intelligence and advanced statistical methods to understand the nature of the universe.