Session B2: Invited Session: Science Diplomacy: Africa and the Middle East

ASP2012: Fundamental Physics and Accelerator Sciences in Africa

Much remains to be done to improve education and scientific research in Africa. Supported by the international scientific community, our initiative has been to contribute to fostering science in sub-Saharan Africa by establishing a biennial school on fundamental subatomic physics and its applications. The school is based on a close interplay between theoretical, experimental, and applied physics. The lectures are addressed to students or young researchers with at least a background of 4 years of university formation. The aim of the school is to develop capacity, interpret, and capitalize on the results of current and future physics experiments with particle accelerators; thereby spreading education for innovation in related applications and technologies, such as medicine and information science. Following the worldwide success of the first school edition, which gathered 65 students for 3-week in Stellenbosch (South Africa) in August 2010, the second edition will be hosted in Ghana from July 15 to August 4, 2012. The school is a non-profit organization, which provides partial or full financial support to 50 of the selected students, with priority to Sub-Saharan African students.   

The African Laser Centre: Transforming the Laser Community in Africa

We describe the genesis and programs of the African Laser Centre (ALC), which is an African nonprofit network of laser users that is based in Pretoria, South Africa. Composed of over thirty laboratories from countries throughout the continent of Africa, the ALC has the mission of enhancing the application of lasers in research and education. Its programs include grants for research and training, equipment loans and donations, student scholarships, faculty grants for visits to collaborators' institutions, conferences, and technician training. A long-term goal of the ALC is to bring a synchrotron light source to Africa, most probably to South Africa. One highly popular program is the biennial conference series called the US-Africa Advanced Studies Institute, which is funded by the ALC in collaboration with the U.S. National Science Foundation and the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste. The Institutes typically bring about thirty faculty and graduate students from the U.S. to venues in Africa in order to introduce U.S. and African graduate students to major breakthroughs in targeted areas that utilize lasers. In this presentation, we will summarize the ALC achievements to date and comment on the path forward.   

SESAME -- A light source for the Middle East

Developed under UNESCO and modelled on CERN, SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) is an international research centre in construction in Jordan, enabling world-class research while promoting peace through scientific cooperation. Its centerpiece, a new 2.5 GeV 3rd Generation Electron Storage Ring (133m circumference, 26nm-rad emittance, 12 places for insertion devices), will provide intense light from infra-red to hard X-rays. The Council (Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestinian Authority, Turkey), provides the annual budget. Concrete shielding is complete, and a staff of 21 is installing the refurbished 0.8 GeV BESS Y I injector system, a gift from Germany. The facility can serve 25 simultaneous experiments. Beamline equipment has been provided by Daresbury (UK), the Helmholtz Assoc. (Germany), the Swiss Light Source, LURE (France), the Univ. of Liverpool, Elettra (Italy) and US labs. Jordan has contributed {\$}3.3M, in addition to a building and land. The EU has contributed {\$}4.8M. Commitments confirmed by Members look set to provide most of {\$}35M needed to complete construction of the ring and 3 beamlines. A training program has been underway since 2000. See www.sesame.org.jo   

Marshak Lectureship: The Turkish Accelerator Center, TAC

The Turkish Accelerator Center (TAC) project is comprised of five different electron and proton accelerator complexes, to be built over 15 years, with a phased approach. The Turkish Government funds the project. Currently there are 23 Universities in Turkey associated with the TAC project. The current funded project, which is to run until 2013 aims \begin{enumerate} \item To establish a superconducting linac based infra-red free electron laser and Bremsstrahlung Facility (TARLA) at the Golbasi Campus of Ankara University, \begin{enumerate} \item To establish the Institute of Accelerator Technologies in Ankara University, and \end{enumerate} \item To complete the Technical Design Report of TAC. The proposed facilities are a 3$^{rd}$ generation Synchrotron Radiation facility, SASE-FEL facility, a GeV scale Proton Accelerator facility and an electron-positron collider as a super charm factory. \end{enumerate} In this talk, an overview on the general status and road map of TAC project will be given. National and regional importance of TAC will be expressed and the structure of national and internatonal collaborations will be explained.   

Andrei Sakharov Prize Lecture: Physics and Freedom in Ethiopia

I will highlight my forty years involvement in physics education and research in Ethiopia and draw lessons that could be learnt from it.