Promoting Biophysics in Africa

Events organised in 2024 to celebrate ICTP’s 60th anniversary took place in Trieste and across the world, and included scientific conferences and workshops in seven different countries. The African Biophysics Workshop on Experimental and Computational Sciences was hosted by ICTP’s partner institute, the ICTP-East African Institute for Fundamental Research (EAIFR), in Kigali, Rwanda, from 9 to 13 December. It was co-funded by CECAM (Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire).

“The workshop aimed to introduce scientists at different stages of their careers – ranging from bachelor’s and master’s students to lecturers – to the most advanced computational and experimental methods in biophysics,” explains Ali Hassanali, a research scientist in ICTP’s Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics (CMSP) section, who was among the organisers of the workshop.

“Increasingly sophisticated numerical and experimental methods allow us to study biological matter in great detail,” Hassanali continues. “With this workshop, we wanted to give participants, mainly theoretical and computational scientists, the opportunity to understand the experimental measurements enabled by these advancements, thus bridging the gap between computational research and experiments, as well as introducing them to advanced numerical techniques that they might not be familiar with.”

Several PhD students and post-docs were invited to talk alongside more experienced scientists. Including speakers at all career stages was intended to encourage peer discussions and foster interactive sessions. “This was the first time that I presented my work at an event of this kind and I was stressed about it,” explains Germaine Neza Hozana, a PhD student at ICTP and a speaker at the workshop. “Seeing that, alongside more experienced lecturers, there were also much younger students, and that we were all talking to each other as peers, I felt much more at ease. It was a great experience for me,” she adds.

Many of the speakers were current and former PhD students and postdocs at ICTP, as well as ICTP Associates and fellows of ICTP’s Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) programme from Africa.
Neza Hozana is from Rwanda and did her bachelor’s degree at the University of Rwanda – College of Science and Technology, in Kigali, where EAIFR is located. “Talking to some of the bachelor’s students at the University of Rwanda, I had the impression to meet my former self, and realised how much I have grown during the past five years. Like those students, when I was an undergraduate, I did not realise how many possibilities there would be in research and how fun and interesting it could be to work in this field. What I told those students, and what I would have told my former self, is never to believe that the world is limited to the few things that they can see now, and to be open to the possibilities that come their way,” she recounts.

Edward Donkor from Ghana, a former ICTP-SISSA PhD student and currently a postdoctoral researcher at Politecnico di Torino, Italy, was also among the speakers. “I enjoyed the lively atmosphere of the workshop and the stimulating exchange of ideas between experimental and computational biophysicists, some of whom were coming from the Elettra synchrotron in Trieste and from ICTP. This helped me further deepen my understanding of various topics,” he comments.

As explained by Hassanali, connecting the ICTP community of African researchers with the local scientific community was also meant to promote collaborations and strengthen networking among young talented African scientists who in the near future could lead research in the region. “Being able to connect with other African scientists is something I appreciated a lot. Science goes beyond borders, and as an African scientist, I believe that it is important for me to interact with my home base and try to foster communication with my peers as much as possible,” Donkor says.

The initiative successfully gave rise to various interactions that can constitute the seeds of future collaborations. “Hearing from a diverse group of African scientists with a deep knowledge in drug discovery and microscopic imaging techniques, such as Atomic Force Microscopy, helped me deepen my understanding of these topics, which will inform my work in the future,” Donkor says. He continues, “It was also nice to share ideas with scientists working in Ghana. Discussing with Dr. Elliot Menkah, a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, led to an interesting possibility for collaboration that could also involve some students from Ghana. It has been a great experience and I cannot wait for more editions in the future”.

The activity attracted about 25 participants from several different countries in the region, including Ghana, Tanzania, Chad, Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Sudan.

The workshop in Kigali was the third in a series that began in South Africa in 2014, followed by one in Tanzania in 2018. Planning is already underway for a fourth edition, set to take place in Ethiopia in 2026.