Africa-UK Physics Partnership Programme reveals new projects

Physicists from the UK and sub-Saharan Africa will be embarking on a series of ambitious projects to address critical scientific and technological challenges, including in climate resilience, sustainable energy, and healthcare.

From cleaner energy to improved cancer treatment, the 13 projects outlined today are part of the £10.7m Africa-UK Physics Partnership (AUPP) Programme, led by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in collaboration with the Institute of Physics (IOP).

The programme aims to develop a highly skilled cohort of physicists equipped to address Africa’s evolving science, technology and policy needs while fostering long-term UK-African partnerships and collaboration.

Funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s International Science Partnerships Fund, the programme was developed following IOP findings that only 5% of research programmes across sub-Saharan Africa involved physics. It identified this lack of physics research in sub-Saharan Africa as a critical issue, given the far-reaching benefits of strong international networks in the field.

In a mission to bridge this gap, AUPP has brought together physicists from the UK, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda to work on projects to strengthen research capabilities across the region to address key challenges facing African economies.

Tony McBride, Director of Policy and Public Affairs, IOP, said: “We are delighted to see AUPP bringing together physicists to help tackle some of the most critical issues faced by people across the globe. The projects will allow for an invaluable diversity of knowledge and experience to be shared between researchers which will undoubtedly enrich their work.

“This funding recognises the fundamental role of physics in tackling the challenges of climate change, sustainable energy, and healthcare. We look forward to seeing the results of these exciting projects in the coming years.”

Stephen Loader, Head of Cross-Cutting and International Programmes at STFC, said: “STFC is proud to lead AUPP, uniting world-class physicists to tackle critical global challenges, and I am excited to follow the progress of these important projects.

“These projects are just one aspect of the programme’s activities. Over the past year, AUPP has sponsored 30 African students to attend a physics summer school in Morocco, and later this month five African PhD students will begin a year-long placement at CERN.

“Through AUPP, we aim to foster a collaborative network of scientific excellence, building a future where Africa and the UK drive progress together through shared science, innovation and expertise.”

The projects

• Stability of the South African power grid: a data-driven statistical physics-based approach
• Sharing the sky: using a global robotic telescope network for capacity and research community building in East Africa
• Potential of sub-seasonal operational weather and climate information for building energy resilience in Kenya (POWER-Kenya)
• Bridging the efficiency gap of metal vs carbon back electrode perovskite solar cells to support the clean energy growth transition in South Africa
• SAPPHIRE: Supra-African Physics Partnership for health innovation and radiotherapy expansion
• Developing capacity for storm and lightning early warning for the energy sector in Ghana (EW4Energy)
• Building the foundation for geodetic excellence in Africa through the Africa-UK Physics Partnership
• Frugal innovation for societally important challenges in Africa (FISICA)
• IKIRERE: innovation and knowledge integration for resilience in East Africa through climate research and education
• Temperature-sensitive Earth-abundant catalysts for green hydrogen production
• Efficient photoelectrochemical green energy system based on hematite photoanodes heterostructured with selected 2D transitional metal dichalcogenides
• Compound semiconductor-enabled renewable energy system for powering critical buildings in Africa
• Simulation-based inference for the Square Kilometre Array and beyond

More information about each project is on the UKRI website.