ASFAP—towards the final report

Wednesday 28 Jan 2026, 14:00 → 15:35 UTC

Fairouz Malek (LPSC-Grenoble, CNRS -UGA, France and Stellenbosch University, SA), Farida Fassi (Universite Mohammed V (MA)), Ketevi Adikle Assamagan (Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)), Shaaban Khalil Ibrahim (ENHEP Egyptian Network of High Energy Physics (EG)), Simon Connell (University of Johannesburg (ZA))

video1467455389.mp4

Summary of the ASFAP meeting on January 28

The recording is available here. There were 38 Zoom connections to the meeting. 

Salient points:

1. We suggest dedicating the the ASFAP report to the memory of our dear colleague Prof. Deepak Kar who passed in December 2025. Deepak was instrumental in the development of the ASFAP chapter on High Energy Physics. Mounia suggested a statement (see below) that you may comment on; you may also make another suggestion. The Steering Committee will collect inputs and come up with a recommendation.
2. We saw examples of budget and timeline from Luca and Ulrich. There is another one in the chapter about Fluids & Plasma from Daniel. These may serve as guides to others who plan to add budget and timeline to their chapters. If necessary, you may talk to Luca, Ulrich or Daniel.
3. We heard positive feedback from Prof. Lise Korsten, the President of the African Academy of Sciences. However, she did suggest that the chapter and section about Agricultural Science be augmented and improved—we will follow up with Alassane Traoré. 
4. Prof. Sotirios Charisopoulos (representing the IAEA) has looked at the report and will be sending suggestions and comments for improvement. He suggested mentioning the hydrology problem in Africa (in water issues). This could be addressed in the chapter on Earth Science or waste management. We will follow up with the authors of these chapters and Sotirios.
5. Lise, Sotirios and Azwinndini suggested bringing the report to the attention of African policymakers. Azwinndini recommended a sustained engagement with the South African NRF.
6. We agreed that February 18 will be deadline to finalize the chapters. After that date any changes will need to be approved by the Steering Committee; no major changes will be accepted only corrections of what is here in the report.
7. UNESCO sent comments to make the report compliant with their publication requirements. Kétévi will share these comments.
8. We will meet again on February 25. Hopefully on that day, we should declare the report ready for submission to UNESCO.

 

From Mounia (endorsed by Prof. Peter Jenni and Kétévi): 

I agree to dedicate this volume to the memory of Deepak. I suggest adding the following dedication on the page immediately after the names of the conveners:

    “This volume is dedicated to the memory of Deepak Kar (1979–2025), in honor of his many contributions to ASFAP.”

You may adjust it as you find appropriate. Send suggestions to ASFAP-SteeringCommittee@cern.ch

 

14:00 → 14:20 Coments from the Symposium and final report

ASFAP_FinalReport-MyRIAD-FONT.pdf

ASFAP UNESCO Format Compliance.pdf