Science Forum South Africa took place from 12-14 December 2018. This events attracts thousands of delegates from all over Africa, including very senior government policy makers. The AfLS and all the South African Synchrotron Users jointly ran a session called A Brighter light for African Science – Towards dramatically improved research and the associated benefits for science in many disciplines as well as for socio-economic development by using the massively expanded research potential of modern light sources. Development opportunities for multi-disciplines including : Medical Sciences, Heritage Sciences, Geosciences, Environmental sciences, Energy Sciences, Nano Sciences, Materials Sciences, Mineral Sciences, Accelerator and Detector Sciences, Competitve Industry, Capacity Building, and Science Infrastructures themselves. The session concept note was as follows :
Light sources (LSs) such as provided by synchrotrons and Free Electron Lasers are currently the most transformative state-of-the-art research instruments for a broad spectrum of disciplines that include physics, chemistry, bioscience, materials science, nanoscience, geoscience, heritage science, environmental science, medical science, all fields of engineering and industrial manufacturing. They embrace essentially all spectroscopic and many imaging techniques, utilising radiation from the infrared (IR), through the visible, ultra-violet (UV), X-ray, to the soft gamma ray part of the electromagnetic spectrum. LSs are orders of magnitude brighter than traditional lasers, which themselves for decades have transformed science and technology. The impact is however beyond science. This is an enormous engine for capacity development, competitive industry, sustainable contributions to health, the environment, mineral beneficiation, clean energy, the culture of learning and many other important spinoff benefits.
The session will covered such issues as
- How/why synchrotrons are transformational science facilities
- Examples of particularly African problems addressed by synchrotron scientists and in
particular by African synchrotron scientists - Explorations of different models of multi-national cooperation for major scientific facility
investment
The session 7 is live-streamed here.
