The College of Basic and Applied Sciences (CBAS) will host the Joint 2nd African Light Source (AFLS2) and Pan African Conference on Crystallography (PCCr2).
Theme: “Crystallography, a tool for sustainable development in Africa”
Conference Dates: 28th January - 2nd February 2019.
The Opening Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 29th January 2019.
Venue: Bank of Ghana Auditorium, Economics Department Conference Facility
Time: 9:00 am
The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is expected to deliver the Keynote address and perform the official Opening of the Conference.
All are cordially invited.
Please find below the concept note for the conference.
CONCEPT NOTE:
THE JOINT 2ND AFRICAN LIGHT SOURCE (AFLS2) AND PAN AFRICAN CONFERENCE ON CRYSTALLOGRAPHY (PCCR2). UNIVERSITY OF GHANA. 28TH JANUARY - 2ND FEBRUARY 2019
Under the auspices of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Light Sources for Africa, Asia, Americas and the Middle East project (LAAAMP), and the African Academy of Sciences; the University of Ghana in Collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Science Technology and Innovation (MESTI) will host the joint African Light Source (AfLS2) and Pan African Conference on Crystallography (PCCr2), at the Bank of Ghana Conference facility at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra from the 28th January - 2nd February 2019. The Conference, which is under the theme “Crystallography: a tool for sustainable development in Africa” will be opened on Tuesday 29th January 2019.
2ND AFRICAN LIGHT SOURCE (AFLS2) CONFERENCE
The 2nd African Light Source conference (AfLS2) to be held in Africa for the first time will deliberate on the future establishment of a Pan African synchrotron Light Source research facility on the African continent. The AfLS2 comes after the successful first African Light Source Conference and Workshop (AfLS1) held at the European Synchrotron Research Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble-France in November 2015.
During the AfLS1, the roadmap towards the ultimate establishment of the first Light Source in Africa was developed, together with a Steering Committee which had both a large African and global footprint.
The Roadmap relates to developing the user base, the projects, deep capacity building, promoting networks, scientific and technical exchanges, building associated local infrastructural capacity, raising the profile of the project politically and developing the Pan African strategic plan with African leadership.
The second African light source conference will review the light source based science and also progresses the vision of an African Light Source. This conference will cover topics that include Geosciences, Environmental sciences, Medical Sciences, Heritage Sciences, Energy Sciences, Nano Sciences, Materials Sciences, Mineral Sciences, Accelerator and Detector Sciences, Competitive Industry, Capacity Building and Infrastructures. There will also be sessions on the strategy and vision for an African light source.
2ND PAN AFRICAN CONFERENCE ON CRYSTALLOGRAPHY (PCCR2).
Following a successful conference held in 2016 in Dschang, Cameroon (PCCr1); this conference (PCCr2) aims at bringing together African crystallographers, mineralogists, structural scientists and biologists to increase awareness of crystallography and improve the educational opportunities for African researchers and students of all levels. The variety of activities will provide opportunities to engage with the scientific community, from expert scientists to young researchers and students of all ages, as well as government representatives and policy-makers in Ghana. Other African Scientists using, practicing and/or developing crystallographic methods will also meet to build a network of African academics, scientists and engineers which should result in the launch of the African Crystallography Association.
Approximately 200 participants from around the world are expected to attend the joint Conference composed of plenary sessions, as well as round-tables on “Crystallography as vehicle to promote Science in Africa and beyond”; “Equipment for African crystallography laboratories” and “the African Synchrotron Light Source project”.
Plenary and Keynote lectures by eminent scientists have been organized; as well as important peripheral activities such as Lectures, exhibitions and poster sessions, along with IUCr Open Lab hands-on training by Bruker; powder diffraction files database training by the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) and workshops by the structural biology Africa and Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC).
As Africa is a continent which is projected to develop very fast during the next 20 years; policy makers, researchers and companies must be determined to develop the science and technology in their universities to meet this goal. Now is thus the ideal time for Ghana to be the gateway to Africa again and the University of Ghana has been chosen because it hosts state-of-the-art x-ray diffractometer (XRD), Neutron Magnetic Resonance spectrometer (NMR) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) in the sub-saharan region that could facilitate industrial research, hands-on experiments and demonstrations to support the Minerals, and Oil and Gas Industries among others.
For more information, please visit www.pccrafrica.org for participation or contact, Dr David Dodoo-Arhin, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Prof. Robert Kingsford-Adaboh, Department of Chemistry University of Ghana, Legon-Accra. Email: ddodoo-arhin@ug.edu.gh, info@pccrafrica.org, Telephone: +233(0)24 333 22 48, +233(0)24 342 38 37 or +233(0)24 358 41 43.
