Speaker
Description
ABSTRACT
Kenyan higher education has experienced tremendous expansion in the last one decade. The number of Universities has significantly increased and the number of academic programmes almost doubled. Physics is one of the specialties offered at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in most of the Kenyan Universities. Thematic areas of interest range from condensed matter Physics, radiation Physics, optics, electronics, material Science and applied Nuclear Physics. Particle Physics which helps us understand how the Universe around us works and which would provide a foundation for other thematic areas has not received due attention in Kenya. Many people are not even aware of the applications of this field in critical sectors like medical physics, mining and water resource management. Currently there is no University offering a standalone postgraduate programme in Particle Physics and only a few Universities offer an introductory course in their undergraduate Physics Curriculum. A group of Kenya Scientists in collaboration with researchers from French institutions have initiated a project of developing and implementing a Master of science in particle Physics in Kenyan Universities, relying on local experts who trained abroad and took up faculty positions when they returned to Kenya. The group is currently developing particle Physics curricular to be implemented jointly in the collaborating Universities. A significant fraction of the teaching will be devoted to technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, or particle detection and acceleration, all of which are transferable skills to other areas, both inside and outside academia. It is envisioned that the Universities will share human resource during implementation and will jointly seek to join established particle Physics collaborations in order to access experimental and computation resources. The project working group has also initiated a number of outreach activities aimed at popularizing particle physics among the undergraduate students and colleagues in Universities, such as organizing workshops on computational tools in particle Physics. A workshop on GEANT4 and GATE was recently conducted and attracted a large number of participants including those from other countries. A second outreach activity has been, popularizing of the CERN summer school 2023 with a view of encouraging Kenyan students to apply and participate. The initiative was successful since many Kenyan students expressed interest in the school and two have already been selected to attend the event at CERN. It is anticipated that the two students will become ambassadors of Particle physics in Kenya on return. The third outreach activity involves conducting seminars at Universities to introduce particle Physics to Undergraduate students and colleagues. Such seminars have been conducted in two Universities and more are scheduled in the coming months.
In view of the initiatives undertaken by the project working team, it is anticipated that the universities would enroll their first cohort within the next one year. The team is further exploring potential sources of funds to support excellent students complete their postgraduate studies, and even go on to do a PhD.
