The call is out to all Africans, members of the African diaspora and Friends of Africa: send in your Letter of Interest (LoI) to help shape a future African Light Source. Your LoI tells us what you want to see in the facility and how it should be built and run.
What your Letter of Interest should address
A Letter of Interest is your opportunity to put your vision on record. There is no fixed format — write as much or as little as you wish — but the following questions guide the kind of input we are looking for to inform the Conceptual Design Report (CDR).
Guiding QuestionsWhat we are asking the community
- Science
- What science should the African Light Source enable?
- Technology
- What technology should be in place for the accelerator, the beamlines, the instruments and the supporting infrastructure?
- Industry
- What industry should be located on the associated mega-science technology park?
- Governance
- How should the facility be governed?
- Anything else
- Any other matters you would like to raise in your Letter of Interest.
Take PartSubmitting your Letter of Interest
Letters of Interest are submitted through the dedicated event page hosted on the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) Indico system. A submission portal is provided there for you to record and send your LoI.
Thuma Mina — send me. The call invites every African, every member of the diaspora and every Friend of Africa to be part of building the continent’s light source.
LaunchHow the call was launched
The call for Letters of Interest was launched on 11 October 2020 as part of the AfLS-CDR Town Hall. The launch was hosted as a Town Hall meeting with a full agenda, and a recording of the session is available for those who were unable to attend live.
The AfLS-CDR Town Hall poster announced the launch event and the call for community input. It set out the purpose of the Conceptual Design Report and invited participation from across the continent and its diaspora.
Launch materials
Several resources accompanied the launch of the call:
- CDR Town Hall agenda — the full programme of the launch meeting held on 11 October 2020.
- Town Hall recording — a video recording of the launch session for anyone who could not attend.
- AfLS-CDR Town Hall poster — the announcement poster summarising the event and the call for Letters of Interest.
