Speaker
Description
Africa is the only habitable continent without a synchrotron light source. There are many socio-economic benefits to positioning a synchrotron in Africa such as,
• Boosting African Scientific Research, Research Capacity, and Capacity Building
• Establishing a Global Research Community on the continent of Africa
• Tackling Disease from a molecular level using protein crystallography
• Opportunity for researchers to pursue “unique to Africa” research related to the environment, energy (e.g. solar, geothermal, wind, etc.), study of human origins and the origins of human culture, mineral extraction, agriculture, etc.
• Using Science for Peace (e.g. the SESAME Light Source Project)
• Return of the African Science Diaspora – by presenting a new opportunity for young excellent scientists
• An opportunity for African countries to take control of their destinies and become major players in the international community.
Momentum is building for an African light source, as a collaboration involving several African countries. An interim Steering Committee was formed on August 16, 2014 in Dakar, Senegal at the African School on Fundamental Physics. The interim steering committee’s role was to plan the African Light Source Conference and Workshop. A workshop was held at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) on Nov. 16-19, 2015 where 72 presentations were delivered. Among those presentations, 32 were scientific talks, 16 were policy strategy talks and 20 were posters (many highlighting research of African students performed at synchrotron light sources). The meeting concluded with large group discussions on the Roadmap for Africa, Workshop Resolutions, and Terms of Reference. A fully mandated Steering Committee was elected. A second conference on the African Light Source will be held on Jan 28 to Feb 2, 2019 in Accra, Ghana. This ACP2018 talk will highlight key points of my presentation delivered at the World Science Forum in November of 2017. The full presentation can be found at https://worldscienceforum.org/?ajax=1&block=Wsfresztvevok_Download&id=399 . For additional information and updates on the AfLS project, see also http://www.africanlightsource.org or follow on Twitter @AfSynchrotron.
