New Partnership with START

Author: Associate Professor Nico Fischer

Date: Jul 4, 2019

Starting with the 2019 ANSDAC workshop, the project is partnering with the Global Challenges Research Fund  project START (Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology) which will allow us to extend the ANSDAC programme by a full year to 2020. Please read below for some information about our new partner:

At the heart of GCRF-START sits the community of co-investigators whose work in the relevant scientific disciplines is world-leading in their fields. They support a wider group of students and post-doctoral assistants whose contribution to START is vital to nurture future capacity and leadership in the African scientific research community. Working on experiments at the UK’s synchrotron, Diamond Light Source, START researchers and students will bring insights to sustainable energy and improvement in health that will have long-lasting legacies across Africa.

Africa does not yet have a synchrotron light source, but African researchers are keen to apply synchrotron techniques to their research problems. START funds research posts in Africa and the UK, focusing on two crucial research areas to African development, energy materials and structural biology for healthcare.

The motivation for START comes from the societal challenges faced by African communities; for example, 600 million people (70%) in sub-Saharan Africa live without electricity, and a reliable electricity supply is one of the most powerful tools for lifting people out of poverty and ending their dependency on aid.  START researchers will investigate energy materials, including solar cell structures, catalysts and batteries. Development of healthcare in Africa is hampered by a lack of fundamental understanding of the cause in diseases such as malaria or HIV. Structural biology gives unprecedented insight into the mechanisms behind such diseases.