A networks of African scientists about spectroscopy and imaging focuses on student and young scientists training.
AFSIN is an acronym for the African Spectral and Imaging Network. The network has nodes in eight African countries including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, and Togo, and one Asian country (Sri Lanka), with collaborators from Sweden. The network receives support from the International Science Program (ISP), Sweden, to train and conduct research that targets the possible use of Laser/LED techniques for multi-spectral microscopic and macroscopic imaging applications in biomedical diagnosis.
With the support of ISP, the group has successfully organized 9 workshops in 6 of the African countries. The maiden doctoral school was organized in Côte d'Ivoire in 2018.
The 2019 workshop
The 10th AFSIN workshop was held at the Laser and Fibre Optics Centre (LAFOC), Department of Physics, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, from July 22 to July 30, 2019. The theme for the workshop was “Using Simple Tools for Advanced Research in Optical Spectroscopy and Multispectral Imaging.”
About 50 participants from eight African countries, and facilitators from Sweden, Sri Lanka, and Ireland gathered for this workshop. During the workshop, 3 multipurpose Raspberry LEGO® goniometers were assembled and distributed to the participating countries.
Doctoral School
Prior to the workshop, a 6-week doctoral school was organized for two Ph.D. students drawn from each of the participating African countries. The expertise of faculty members in the Physics Department in the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, as well as those in Sweden, Sri Lanka and Ireland was utilized to build on the knowledge and capacity of students on how to improve or improvise optical systems for research, share expertise to open new areas for investigations, and support each other to solve problems and share results and experience to improve total productivity.
Training students
The workshop was designed to improve on the research experience of students. The overarching goal of the workshop was to train students in building simple optical systems for advanced research.
Participants also explored promising approaches to bolstering student outcomes in optical systems, focusing especially on research and data acquisition methods that demonstrate the success of these approaches; deliberated and discussed barriers and opportunities for effective collaborative research.
Acknowledgment
The AFSIN group wishes to express our heartfelt appreciation to the International Programme for Physical Sciences (IPPS), the International Sciences Programme (ISP), and Uppsala University, Sweden for continuous funding of AFSIN activities.
Jérémie Zoueu, Moses Jojo Eghan, Benjamin Anderson, Jerry Opoku-Ansah, Peter Osei-Wusu Adueming, Charles Lloyd Yeboah Amuah and Paul Kingsley Buah-Bassuah
This post was first published by the African Physics Newsletter - © American Physical Society, 2020