ASP2026 IOC+LOC Meeting

Tuesday 14 Apr 2026, 12:55 → 14:15 UTC

Bobby Samir Acharya (Abdus Salam Int. Cent. Theor. Phys. (IT)), Christine Darve (European Spallation Source), Fernando Ferroni (Sapienza Universita e INFN, Roma I (IT)), Ketevi Adikle Assamagan (Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)), Mounia Laassiri (Brookhaven National Laboratory (USA))

ASP2026-Preparation-14 April 2026.mp4

Summary of meeting, the recording is available here:

•  Venue at the CEMESTEA: the LOC informed us that the venue for ASP2026 will be at CEMESTEA for students and teachers. Arrangements are made for CEMESTEA to offer daily stipend to the teachers to seek their own accommodation.

 

• Support for computing logistics: We need support for the logistics for software and computing:

1. Internet connectivity

2. Availability of expert computing support during the event

3. Access to computer labs during the event

4. Remote connection to the computing facility so that our lecturers can install and test educational software remotely before the event starts.

5. We were given the name of Ether Nyamubara at CEMESTEA as a person to contact. We have reached out to her for discussion on these points.

 

• Menu: We agreed that LOC should start from the menu/costs that we received earlier, and upon which we based our budget, and with US$5k-6k to see how to improve that menu as follows:

1. One daily choice for meat eaters, one daily choice pescatarian and one daily vegetarian.

2. The choice should vary for lunch and dinner.

3. The choice should vary daily.

4. In due course, we will communicate to the LOC the lists of persons in each of these categories.

 

• The transportation costs (airport transfers, shuttle to UoN, ad hoc movements) communicated to us are high for our budget. We kindly asked the LOC how we might reduce that cost.

 

• Email addresses of LOC lecturers: We request the email addresses of the LOC lecturers to add them to our Lecturers’ list.

 

• Invitation letters for international students and lecturers. Some may need a visa to travel to Kenya or authorizations from their institutes to travel. We request drafting a template letter that can be adapted quickly by changing the name of the recipients. We will communicate to the LOC the list of international students and lecturers.

 

• Our next meeting will be on April 28. From that point, we will be inviting lecturers to join and will focus mainly on the scientific programs, assuming we have now resolved the aforementioned issues.

13:00 → 13:10 Venue at CEMESTEA

For students and teachers

13:10 → 13:40 Logistics for venue at CEMASTEA

13:40 → 13:50 Local lecturers

13:50 → 14:00 Invitation letters for international students & lecturers