This new relationship will facilitate the access of South African scientists to the ESRF research facility and also the access of European scientists to South African expertise and research opportunities.
"This is a remarkable achievement and it recognises the excellence of our local scientists as well as the global research opportunities that can be accessed from South Africa," said Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, CEO of the NRF. Signing the agreement on behalf of South Africa was Professor Nithaya Chetty, the group executive: astronomy, NRF. In attendance were: Dr Thomas Auf der Heyde from the Department of Science and Technology (DST): deputy director-general for human capital and knowledge systems, who is responsible for the national research infrastructure programmes at the DST, including providing support for mobility and access to international infrastructures, such as the ESRF synchrotron facility; Tshepo Ntsoane, chairman of the South African Synchrotron User Community (SRRIC); and Professor Simon Connell, president of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) and academic from the University of Johannesburg. The signing of this agreement will make South Africa the first African country to join the ESRF.
A synchrotron is a brilliant source of near-laser-quality "light", which covers the spectrum from the infra-red to the hard X-ray regime in a continuous manner. It can "see" in many different modes, capable of observing structure, composition and dynamics at the extreme limits of sensitivity and resolution. It enables research of the highest scientific impact in a wide range of fields, including medicine, the biosciences, materials science, nanoscience, the heritage sciences, the environmental sciences and the geosciences. Since the early 1990s, scientist from South African research organisations and the ESRF have established strong collaborations. South African achievements using synchrotrons have featured prominently in leading international scientific journals such as Nature and Science and have been highlighted in several ESRF reports.
Several South African industries have also conducted research at the ESRF, for example Sasol, which has developed a significant cohort of experts who conduct ground-breaking research in catalysis using this facility. Synchrotrons have led to an increase in the amount of information that can be retrieved from a fossil, even while it is still partially encased in rock. This puts paleontology well into the realm of "big data", joining the ranks of the CERN and the SKA projects. Not surprisingly, therefore, South African paleontology also recently made international headlines when the brain of an early human ancestor Australopithecus sediba specimen nicknamed Karabo was visualised and studied in the fossilised skull buried in stone. This was a world-first application for synchrotron technology. The atomic resolution insights gained from using the ESRF to visualise drug targets will assist us better to understand the functioning of drugs to address the considerable disease burden in African countries.
According to Dr Auf der Heyde: "For some years now, we have seen a new growth trajectory in science in South Africa and the agreement between the NRF and ESRF serves further to build human capital and research capacity for sustainable growth and development in South Africa." The signing of this agreement is accompanied by a companion budget that will be managed by the NRF to fund access to a selection of similar synchrotron facilities worldwide.
