5th Edition of the African School of Physics kicks off – 30 local high schools to participate in the learners outreach programme
The biennial African School of Fundamental Physics and Applications (ASP), originally launched in South Africa in 2010, kicked off this week and will conclude on 14 July.
The scientific agenda of ASP2018 includes a three-week intensive graduate student programme, a one-week training for high school teachers, a one-week outreach for high school learners, and a one-week professional physics conference.
Over 500 students from Africa and beyond applied for the graduate student programme; 85 students were selected from 26 African countries.
One student from Palestine and another from the USA will be joining their African counterparts. 70 High school teachers from Namibia will participate in the teachers workshop whose objective is to train teachers for improved teaching skills. 30 high schools in and around Windhoek will participate in the learners outreach programme with 40-50 learners selected from each participating school.
The objective of the learners outreach programme is to motivate them to develop and maintain interesting fundamental physics and applications. The professional physics conference is designed to attract former ASP participants, post-doctoral students, university faculties and researchers across Africa and beyond to present and discuss progress in their research work, to network and exchange ideas and form future research collaborations.
The scientific programme will include lectures, demonstrations, experimentation and hands-on tutorial in Astrophysics and Cosmology, Nuclear and Particle Physics, Physics Education and Communication, Material Physics, Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency, Accelerators, Medical and Radiation Physics, and High Performance Computing.
The scientific agenda of ASP2018 has been designed by 60 international lecturers, supported by a local organizing committee from the National Commission on Research, Science and Technology, the University of Namibia and the Namibia University of Science and Technology.
Critical to the success of this programme are policy makers in each host country, and we are proud to be working in conjunction with Namibian education officials who have given the programme unconditional support.
“The time has never been more auspicious for Namibia to host the ASP2018 since the youth of Namibia will drive the growth and prosperity of the country into the next generation – but only if we equip them to do so” says Ms Angelique Philander from the National Commission on Research, Science and Technology.
Kwame Nkrumah in his speech at the Organisation of African Unity in 1963 said “it is within the possibility of science and technology to make even the Sahara bloom into a vast field with verdant vegetation for agricultural and industrial development.”
Dr Eli Kasai from the University of Namibia, echoes the sentiments of the late great Nkrumah, “fast forward to today, it is within the realm of Africans to make this and more a reality.” Dr Kasai added that “we are excited to be working with the ASP in shaping the future of science and technology on the continent.”
The African School of Fundamental Physics and Applications is a nonprofit organisation that is passionate about increasing capacity development in fundamental physics and related applications in Africa. It was founded in 2010 with the aim of fostering collaboration through education.
