The ASP has evolved to be much more than a school. It is a program of actions with directed ethos toward physics as an engine for development in Africa.

Programs Overview

Programs Overview

The ASP has evolved to be much more than a school. It is a program of actions with directed ethos toward physics as an engine for development in Africa.

Students Program

The program for the students is an intensive one for a duration of 3 weeks as described in the mission statement. For each edition of ASP, a call for applications is announced about 8 months before the school starts and the applications last for a period of 3 months. An international selection committee is formed to identify 60-80 students that best satisfy all the academic requirements and the instructions from some of the funding agencies.

The students are selected from all over Africa, and at the time of their selection, they must have at least 3 years of university education in mathematics, physics, engineering, and/or computing. The selected students receive full bursaries and international travel coverage—as necessary—for the entire duration of the school.

The scientific program for the students is based on the topics mentioned in the mission statement and ASP conference with appropriate adjustments to consider the research topics that are of interest to the host country.

Learn more about ASP Students Program

High School Learners Program

In parallel to the students’ activities, an outreach event is organized for high school learners for a period of one week. The objective is to motivate learners to develop and maintain interest in physics and applications. Upwards of 200 learners  per day from the host country can participate in this program, and the participating learners are identified by the local organizing committee (LOC) in consultation with the Regional Educational Authorities around the venue. During this outreach event, ASP lecturers visit a series of high schools in the host country. For each high school visited, about 40–50 pupils are pre-selected by the LOC for the program which lasts for about 4 hours and consists of physics demonstrations, experiments, exercises, talks, discussions, question and answer sessions. The learners workshop runs in parallel to the Students Program.

Learn more about ASP High School Learners Program

Teachers Program

A dedicated program is organized to train teachers for better and improved physics teachings. International experts design the program in collaboration with the local organizing committee (LOC) of the host country. The LOC—in consultation with the Ministry of Education—is responsible to identify the teachers that participate in this program. Up to 80 teachers are accepted for an intensive program of one-week. The teachers program runs in parallel to the Students Program and designed such that the teachers participate in the ASP Forum and in parts of the ASP School.

Learn more about ASP High School Teachers Program

Mentorship Program

After each edition of ASP, and between consecutive editions, hence continually, the international organizing committee (IOC) manages a mentoring and coaching program for ASP student alumni. This is done in collaboration with the academic advisors of the students. The student alumni are paired up different ASP lecturers whose roles are to follow the academic progress of the students and help as much as possible in the academic development of the students. This programs allows the ASP organizers to maintain contacts with the students after their participation in the school. Many ASP alumni are currently benefiting from this organized support structure that also allows the IOC to better answer the question “what happens to the students after their participation in an edition of ASP?”

Learn more about ASP Mentorship Program

Online Lecture Series

The online lecture series is a weekly seminar or colloquium to supplement the ASP term schools. It is organized continuously even when there is no term school. Experts are invited or volunteer to lecture on any topics in the areas of concentration of ASP students and alumni, namely:

  • Astrophysics and Cosmology;
  • Nuclear and Particle Physics;
  • Accelerator, Medical and Radiation Physics;
  • High-Performance Computing;
  • Physics Education;
  • Physics Communication;
  • Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency;
  • Materials Physics.

Learn more about ASP Online Lecture Series

The Biennial African Conference on Fundamental Physics and Applications

The African Conference on Fundamental Physics and Applications, or African Conference on Physics (ACP), is a biennial physics conference organized in connection with the African School of Physics (ASP).

ACP is an international and professional conference opened to physicists, physics teachers, and policy makers in education and research from all over Africa and beyond. ACP is of a duration of five days.

Participants at ACP may or may not be involved in the ASP activities. The scientific program at ACP consists of all the scientific tracks taught as ASP such as:

  • Astroparticle physics and cosmology;
  • Nuclear and particle physics;
  • Event generator, detectors, simulation, statistical and data analyses;
  • Medical and radiation physics;
  • renewable energies and energy efficiency;
  • Material physics;
  • Physics education;
  • Physics communication;
  • High performance computing.

Varying emphasis are given to different tracks depending on the research interest of the host country. Participants at ACP that are not involved in the ASP organization (International Organizing Committee, Local Organizing Committee, lecturers, teachers and students) are required to pay some registration fee.

Learn more about ACP Conference

Forum for Policy Makers

The ASP Forum consists of presentations, talks, discussions and debate in one day during ASP. Local and international policy makers in matters of education and research, lecturers, ASP conference participants, students, teachers, industries, research and education institutes, and the media participate in this event. The objective is to discuss and adapt the role of the ASP program to better align with the research and education priorities of African countries. The ASP Forum program includes talks and discussions around the following, with relevant changes for different host countries:

  • Welcome address by a member of the local organizing committee;
  • Review of the African School of Physics program;
  • Feedback from one of the students that is attending the current ASP;
  • Guest of Honor address;
  • Host country strategy on research and capacity development;
  • Regional strategy on research and capacity development;
  • Role of industry;
  • Outreach programs of leading international research institutes;
  • Opportunities for capacity development in large scale international projects;
  • Potential for capacity development in new research facilities;
  • Plans for the next ASP;
  • Beyond capacity development and issues of retention.

The results of the ASP Forum are integrated in the ASP program going forward for continuous improvement and adaption of ASP:

  1. Research Facilities as Vehicles for Capacity Development;
  2. Information Technology in Capacity Development’
  3. E-learning and E-lab;
  4. To Increase African Presence in Scientific gatherings—Workshop, Conferences, and Symposia;
  5. To Facilitate Retention.

Learn more about ASP Forum Day

Selection of the Host Country

The host country of the school is selected two and a half years in advance through a competitive bidding process that takes into account aspects of safety of the participants and the support from the host country government.

Learn more about ASP Host Country Selection