Physics Comment Magazine March 2018 Issue Physics Comment March 2018_v1.3 | Page 10

The 29th General Assembly
RESOLVED to mandate Council
to writeto the Chair of the
African Union Development),
Resolution 12 (The ICSU-ISSC
merger),
and
the earlier
mentioned
resolution
18
(Physics in Africa).
Commission,
appealing
for
support for
Basic
Sciences
in Africa, continuation of the
AU effort to bring at least 1%
of GDP to the budget of
Science and Technology in each
African
state,
and
empowerment of Women in
Science in Africa.
All the approved resolutions
adopted
by
the
29th
IUPAP
General
Assembly
are
available
at: http://
iupap.org/wp-content/
uploads/2017/02/Resolutions-of-
the-29th-General-
Assembly_v2.pdf.
The
29th
IUPAP
General
Assembly
provided
an
opportunity for the South African
delegation
to
connect
to
colleagues around the world to
discuss matters relevant to Physics
in Africa.
The South African delegation met
with Dr Amy Flatten [Director of
International Affairs, American
Physical Society (APS)] and Prof
Patricia McBride to talk about
collaborative programs between
APS and SAIP, in the light of the
APS Physics in Africa project and
the related survey that was
conducted (see also the article in
the November 2017 edition of
Physics Comment).
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Prof Vanderlei Bagnato (Brazil)
proposed an Africa - Brazil
workshop in 2018. The idea is to
promote contact among the
researchers in order to start
cooperation, exchange of students.
Topics can be diverse and must
involve physics in agriculture, health
care, microbiological control and
fundamental physics.
The proposal is to send three
researchers (including a student)
per country from Ghana, Senegal,
Tunisia, Botswana and South Africa
to Brazil for the workshop. Details
about
this
workshop,
and
opportunities
to
attend
this
workshop will be advertised via the
SAIP communication channels.
In the sidelines of the
General
Assembly,
Nobel
laureate
Prof William D.
Phillips gave a well-attended
and fun filled public lecture
on “Time, Einstein, and the
coolest
stuff
in
the
Universe”. During the afternoons
of the three days of the
General Assembly, chairs of
the working groups presented
science highlights from their
commissions.