African Strategy for �Fundamental and Applied Physics (ASFAP)

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Pan-African, gender balanced and inclusive

Mandating Body : African Physical Society (AfPS)

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Steering Committee: ASFAP-SteeringCommittee@cern.ch

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Web : https://africanphysicsstrategy.org/,

Wiki : https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/AfricanStrategy

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StrategyAsfap

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Dr. Kétévi A. Assamagan

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Outline

• Motivation
• Structural Organization
• Timeline
• Endorsement and Support
• How can you get involved?

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Physics strategies

• Physics strategies are regularly developed / updated in other regions
• European strategy
• Snowmass
• etc.
• Recently, colleagues in Latin America developed a strategy for Research Infrastructures in High Energy, Cosmology and Astrophysics
• Folks in Africa are coming together to develop an inaugural physics strategy at grassroots physicists level

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Madagascar is a part of the DUNE Collaboration

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African strategies from the African Union

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1. Roadmaps / Strategies not new in Africa
1. Governments have roadmaps
2. Professional societies do
3. Large continental scientific collaborations do

The issue has been

in implementation

ASFAP

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• Many strategies & implementation issues
• What is ASFAP going to bring?

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• Objectives
• Engage African scientists and the international community in the Strategy development. Increase and sustain networking
• Develop the culture of regular strategies done by grassroots physicists, as opposed to top-down strategies initiated by governments or large political bodies where the broad community of physicists is not consulted
• The physics community plays an active role in shaping the strategic directions
• Support the African Physical Society to become a strong professional body

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• ASFAP Structure
• Broad footprint by discipline and fields
• Steering Committee, Advisory Committee, Group Conveners, Sub-group Conveners
• Solicitation of inputs from the community in the form of Letters of Interest (LOI), Surveys, Panel Discussion, Workshops, Conferences, regular meetings, and white paper Study Groups
1. Progress discussed in the relevant groups
2. Subgroup and group final reports (at the subgroup and convener levels); Strategy report at the Steering Committee level
3. Feedback and advice from the IAC

Structure and Organization

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• Overall coordination
• Final report

• Wide solicitation of community inputs
• Preparation of Group reports

Physics Education, Knowledge Transfer, Entrepreneurship, Communication and outreach, Stakeholders and Funding and Govt agencies, Policy Makers, related affairs.

• WG has 3-4 Convenors
• WG defines Sub WGs

• Review of progress
• Advice on scope
• Engage of stakeholders
• Review and endorsement Report

• Intra-comms
• Review LOIs and WPs
• Help WGs in editing

• ASFAP CoC
• Ombudspersons

Support from national or international organizations

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https://africanphysicsstrategy.org/

Advisory & Steering Committees

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Steering Committee

• Dr. Kétévi Adiklè Assamagan (BNL, USA)
• Prof. Simon Connell (University of Johannesburg, SA)
• Prof. Farida Fassi (Mohammed V University, Morocco)
• Prof. Shaaban Khalil (CFP, Zewail City, Egypt)
• Dr. Fairouz Malek (CNRS and Grenoble Univ., France)

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Observers Committee

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Members of this committee are people with experience in long term planning (either senior or junior) but also an outstanding involvement with projects in and with Africa. OC will be an intermediate body, conveying ideas between STC and WGs. Members participate in WG discussions, they review papers, attend meetings and participate to the editing of the reports together with the WGs they are assigned to follow. OC members can easily report any Ethics issues or just a problem with the WGs.

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Physics or Engagement Working Groups

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ASFAP has 16 Physics Working Groups

and 6 Engagement Groups

ASFAP Timeline

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ASFAP Town Hall

ASFAP Community Planning Meeting, March 7-11, 2022

How you can get involved

1. Provide contributions to community inputs collections
1. LOI, Survey, Workshop, Panel Discussions, Conferences, talks
2. Submit LOIs until February, 2022

https://indico.cern.ch/event/1061921/

1. Participate in (sub)group meetings
2. Register to mailing lists of working groups of interest
3. Offer your constructive opinions and expertise
2. Encourage your research groups to get involved
3. Participate in White Paper study groups
4. Encourage institutional credits for those working on this Strategy
• For people in leadership roles as (sub)conveners and liaisons
• White papers aim to be published
• White paper finding reviewed and referenced in the Strategy report
5. Register and attend the 2nd African Conference on Fundamental and Applied Physics (ACP2021), March 7-11, 2022. Virtual event
• https://indico.cern.ch/event/1060503/
• Conference proceedings to be published as Special Issue in a peer-reviewed journal
• Certificate of participation

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Thuma mina – Send Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Bwux-btq0

Musician Hugh Masekela

Inspired SA President Cyril Ramaphosa

Conclusions

• Many roadmaps or strategies already developed in Africa
• Mandated and carried out governments, physics societies, large institutes
• Often lacking broad community consultations and inputs
• Often facing problems in implementation
• With ASFAP, we propose to develop a strategy mandated by the African Physical Society, with
• Broad community consultations driven at grassroots by physicists
• Broad footprints in all the physics and engagement topics of importance to Africa
• Objectives
• Establish a culture of periodic strategies by physicists
• Influence strategic directions taken by policymakers
• Broaden network of African physicists
• Help donors and funding agencies in deciding where best to invest limited resources
• Support the African Physical Society into an outstanding professional body

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