ESS-South Africa dialogue continues at workshop on neutron research and technology
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ABOVE: DSI's Chief Director for Basic Sciences and Infrastructure Daniel Adams addressing the meeting in Cape Town. BELOW: Meeting participants touring iThemaba LABS facilities. |
CAPE TOWN—The First South African Workshop on Capacity Building: Neutron Research was held at the iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences (iThemba LABS) August 13-14. The workshop brought South African research scientists, engineers and technologists together with their counterparts from the European Spallation Source (ESS). The meeting was hosted by a South African consortium led by the country’s Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the National Research Foundation (NRF), together with the ESS-led BrightnESS² EU grant project.
“We are thankful to the team from ESS under the leadership of [ESS Director for Science] Prof. Dr. Schreyer for their engagement and advice shared with the delegates,” said iThemba research scientist Peane Maleka on behalf of the meeting’s South African organisers. “The workshop has provided an excellent opportunity for exchanging information and knowledge, and has resulted in new developments and future perspectives on the applications of neutron science in South Africa.”
The main focus for the workshop was an exchange of ideas on collaboration opportunities presented by the two local facilities, iThemba LABS and the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), in connection with the construction of the complementary neutron source ESS in Lund, Sweden. Additionally, the workshop served to supplement the neutron-based science research and innovations at iThemba LABS and Necsa, and explored the need for South Africans to consider an expansion in these fields.
Both Daniel Adams, the South African government’s Chief Director for Basic Sciences and Infrastructure, and Clifford Nxomani, Deputy Chief Executive Officer for NRF, addressed the participants and offered national support for the initiatives.
The meeting served as a follow-up to the visit of a high-level South African delegation to ESS in the summer of 2018 that initiated the collaboration. South Africa has a long history of research using neutrons. Given the focus areas at the iThemba and Necsa facilities, there is always a need for South African researchers to have access to global neutron sources like ESS that can provide complementary research opportunities.
The second BrightnESS² capacity-building workshop will be hosted and organised by Necsa on behalf of the consortium in 2020.
ESS Head of Instruments Ken Andersen in Cape Town.
