SA-CERN 15 Year Celebrations

20 Jan 2025, 08:00 → 21 Jan 2025, 18:30 Africa/Johannesburg

Auditorium (iThemba LABS)

“Fifteen Years of South Africa - CERN (SA-CERN)” will be celebrated at a special event to be held at iThemba LABS near Cape Town, South Africa, in January 2025. It will highlight and showcase the South African involvement at CERN and the opportunities that it creates for the South African community.

This event commemorates the launch of the SA-CERN programme on 15 December 2008 at iThemba LABS in the presence of representatives from academia, government, students, and members of the press. 

The event will be composed of a series of high-level talks on the SA-CERN programme, addresses from government officials and international dignitaries (including CERN management), scientific talks from leading physicists.  The programme will include a strong component highlighting the achievements and ongoing work of our many students. In addition there will be an exhibition area where institutions and industry partners will demonstrate their involvement in SA-CERN.

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Monday, 20 January

08:00 → 09:00 Arrival, Registration, Tea & Coffee

09:00 → 11:50 Morning Plenary Session: Opening - 15 Years of SA-CERN - The Bird’s-Eye View

09:00 Welcome from the Director of iThemba LABS and Chairperson of SA-CERN

Speaker: Prof. Victor Tshivhase (iThemba LABS)

09:10 Opening Remarks

Speaker: Dr Mike Lamont (Director for Accelerators and Technology - CERN)

CERN-SA15-MikeLamont.pdf

09:30 Congratulatory message from the Chair of the NRF board (pre-recorded)

Speaker: Prof. Mosa Moshabela

09:40 Reflections on Fifteen Years of LHC Physics

Speaker: Prof. John Ellis (King's College London and CERN)

CERN-SA15-JohnEllis.pdf

10:25 Reflections on Fifteen Years of SA-CERN

Speaker: Prof. Azwinndini Muronga (Nelson Mandela University)

SA-CERN15-AzwinndiniMuronga.pdf

11:10 Introduction of the Keynote Speaker

Speaker: Dr Angus Paterson (DCEO - NRF)

11:15 Keynote Address from the Deputy Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation

Speaker: Ms Nomalungelo GINA (Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation)

11:40 Closing remarks

Speaker: Dr Angus Paterson (Deputy Chief Executive Officer - NRF)

11:50 → 13:00 Lunch

13:00 → 15:00 Afternoon Plenary Session: Afternoon Plenary Session I

13:00 The ALICE Experiment - Where are we now?

Speaker: Dr Marco van Leeuwen (Nikhef)

CERN-SA15-MarcovanLeeuwen.pdf

13:20 SA-ALICE - Where are we now?

Speaker: Prof. Zinhle Buthelezi (iThemba LABS)

SA-CERN_ALICE-ZinhleButhelezi.pdf

13:40 The ATLAS Experiment - Where are we now?

Speaker: Prof. Stephane Willocq (University of Massachusetts Amherst and CERN)

ATLAS-iThemba-2025-01-20.pdf

14:00 SA-ATLAS - Where are we now?

Speaker: Dr James Keaveney (University of Cape Town)

4_SA-CERN_ATLAS_DepakKar.pdf

14:20 The ISOLDE Facility - Where we are now?

The Zoom link for this talk is as follows:

https://zoom.us/j/96415182851?pwd=lXbrtuWXfMZcm6HAwNVBauwy0JImiP.1

Meeting ID: 964 1518 2851

Passcode: 213919

Speaker: Prof. Sean Freeman (CERN)

14:40 SA-ISOLDE - Where are we now?

Speaker: Prof. Deena Naidoo (School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050)

6_SA-CERN-ISOLDE-DeenaNaidoo.pdf

15:00 → 16:30 Poster Session, Exhibitor Reception, and Tours: Poster Session & Exhibitor Reception

Convener: Dr Edward Nkadimeng (iThemba LABS)

16:30 → 17:00 Closeout

Tuesday, 21 January

08:00 → 09:00 Arrival, Registration, Tea & Coffee

09:00 → 11:20 Morning Plenary Session: 15 Years of SA-CERN - The Bird’s-Eye View

09:00 High Energy Physics Theory - Where are we now?

The Zoom link for this talk is as follows:

https://zoom.us/j/96415182851?pwd=lXbrtuWXfMZcm6HAwNVBauwy0JImiP.1

Meeting ID: 964 1518 2851

Passcode: 213919

Speaker: Prof. Urs Wiedemann (CERN)

09:20 SA-THEORY - Where are we now?

Speaker: Prof. Alan Cornell (University of Johannesburg)

SA-CERN-Theory-AlanCornell.pdf

09:40 High-Performance Computing in South Africa

Speaker: Dr Happy Sithole

SA-CERN-NICIS_CHPC-MervynChristoffels.pdf

10:00 CERN Knowledge Transfer

The Zoom link for this talk is as follows:

https://zoom.us/j/96415182851?pwd=lXbrtuWXfMZcm6HAwNVBauwy0JImiP.1

Meeting ID: 964 1518 2851

Passcode: 213919

Speaker: Dr Giovanni Anelli (CERN)

10:20 SA-Technology Transfer

Speaker: Bruce Mellado (University of the Witwatersrand)

SA-CERN-TT-BruceMellado.pdf

10:40 CERN Outreach, Teacher Training, and Summer Student Programmes

The Zoom link for this talk is as follows:

https://zoom.us/j/96415182851?pwd=lXbrtuWXfMZcm6HAwNVBauwy0JImiP.1

Meeting ID: 964 1518 2851

Passcode: 213919

Speaker: Dr Sascha Schmeling (CERN)

CERN-SA-Outreach_Education-SaschaSchmeling.pdf

11:00 SA-CERN Outreach & Development

Speaker: Gillian Arendse (NRF-iThemba LABS)

SA-CERN-outreach-GillianArendse.pdf

11:20 → 12:40 Lunch

12:40 → 14:40 Afternoon Parallel Sessions: A closer look at SA-ALICE

JBlock 1st floor Boardroom 2

Convener: Zinhle Buthelezi (iThemba LABS, National Research Foundation (ZA))

12:40 → 14:40 Afternoon Parallel Sessions: A closer look at SA-ATLAS

Join Zoom Meeting
https://cern.zoom.us/j/62326852080?pwd=bc5XaEm0C0mMQghIiSallhbAAm8BJP.1

Meeting ID: 623 2685 2080
Passcode: 103709

Convener: Dr James Keaveney (University of Cape Town)

12:40 Intro from SA-ATLAS coordinator

Speaker: Dr James Keaveney (University of Cape Town)

12:45 Opening remarks from the ATLAS Spokesperson

Speaker: Prof. Stephane Willocq

12:50 Overview of UCT/AIMS-ATLAS

Speaker: Dr James Keaveney (University of Cape Town)

SA-CERN_UCT-AIMS_keaveney.pdf

13:10 Q&A and Discussion

13:20 Overview of Wits/iTL/UniZulu-ATLAS

Speakers: Prof. Bruce Mellado (University of the Witwatersrand) , Prof. Deepak Kar (University of Witwatersrand)

dkar-wits-sacern15.pdf

RachidMazini_SA-CERN_21Jan2025.pdf

13:40 Q&A and Discussion

13:50 Overview of UJ/UWC/UNISA-ATLAS

Speaker: Prof. Simon Connell (University of Johannesburg)

UJ-ATLAS Short 2025.pdf

14:10 Q&A and Discussion

12:40 → 14:40 Afternoon Parallel Sessions: A closer look at SA-ISOLDE

Convener: Deena Naidoo (School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS, 2050)

12:40 → 14:40 Afternoon Parallel Sessions: A closer look at SA-THEORY

Convener: Alan Cornell (University of Johannesburg)

12:40 → 14:40 Afternoon Parallel Sessions: A closer look at SA-TechTransfer

Convener: Bruce Mellado (University of the Witwatersrand and iThemba LABS)

14:40 → 15:10 Coffee Break: Coffee break

15:10 → 18:00 Closing Plenary Session

15:30 Panel Discussion 1: Fundamental Science for South African Development

The Zoom link for this talk is as follows:

https://zoom.us/j/96415182851?pwd=lXbrtuWXfMZcm6HAwNVBauwy0JImiP.1

Meeting ID: 964 1518 2851

Passcode: 213919

Speaker: Dr Gillian Arendse (NRF-iThemba LABS)

16:15 Panel Discussion 2: The Future of SA-CERN

The Zoom link for this talk is as follows:

https://zoom.us/j/96415182851?pwd=lXbrtuWXfMZcm6HAwNVBauwy0JImiP.1

Meeting ID: 964 1518 2851

Passcode: 213919

Speakers: Dr Angus Paterson (Deputy CEO - NRF) , Prof. Emannuel Tsesmelis (Head of Relations with Associate Members and Non-Member States - CERN) , Dr Gillian Arendse (NRF-iThemba LABS) , Mr Imraan Patel (DDG - Research Development and Support) , Dr Mike Lamont (Director for Accelerators and Technology - CERN) , Prof. Simon Connell (University of Johannesburg ) , Prof. Victor Tshivase (Director iThemba LABS, Chairperson SA-CERN)

17:00 Panel Q&A

Speaker: Dr Gillian Arendse (NRF-iThemba LABS)

17:20 Closing remarks

Speaker: Prof. Emmanuel Tsesmelis (CERN)

CERN-SA-EmmanuelTsesmelis-Closing.pdf

17:40 Closing remarks

Speaker: Prof. Victor Tshivhase (iThemba LABS)

18:00 → 18:30 Closeout: End of Event