• Each project leader will have the opportunity to introduce the project, followed by a student presentation (Total time allocated 20 minutes).
• Additional project presentations in the form of posters.
• A limited number of rental pool student presentations will also be accommodated.
• Three keynote speakers will also address delegates.

The Conference venue is STIAS in Stellenbosch. The fact that the workshop is limited to ALC associated researchers and students, will encourage interaction between grant holders and students.

The Workshop will take place from Wednesday 29 November to Saturday 2 December 2017 at the Wallenberg Research Centre under the auspices of the African Laser Centre.

If you are an ALC grantholder or a student studying at a South African university on an ALC project and would like to attend the symposium, please take note of the dates in the table below.

Prof Joseph Indekeu

Einstein’s impact after 100 years of general relativity theory

Prof Joseph Indekeu, who in 2013 was awarded a Belgian Academy Prize for Science Outreach, was Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at KU Leuven from 2011 until 2015, While being actively involved, as a leader, in maintaining throughout his Department the highest standards of research, teaching and services to university and society, Joseph Indekeu's personal activities are centered around research in theoretical statistical physics (KU Leuven, PhD 1983, Habilitation 1990), with his team, teaching general physics and quantum physics, and popularizing science by designing and performing in a physics cabaret, together with his children. Joseph Indekeu's international profile is very well balanced and has enabled him to establish a network of colleagues and collaborators who aim at highly original and pioneering contributions to science. After postdoctoral years at MIT, TU Delft and RU Leiden, and shorter stays in Padova, Bristol and Oxford, he developed various seminal lines of research in wetting phenomena and interfacial critical phenomena. This has, in particular, led to a novel view on surface superconductivity, which has led to the prediction of an interface delocalization (or "wetting") phase transition in type-I superconductors. This prediction has recently been verified experimentally. Furthermore, in 2013 Indekeu co-investigated, with researchers of imec, Leuven, wetting states in nanopatterned silicon, which has numerous applications since reliable wet cleaning of nanopatterned Si wafers is an important issue in modern technology. In 2015-2016 Joseph Indekeu traveled around the globe for a Sabbatical year, and stayed at MIT, Stellenbosch, Hanoi, Okayama, Paramaribo and Cabo Verde. He is currently back at the University of Stellenbosch where he teaches general physics, collaborates on computational methods and engages in outreach activities.
 

Dr Carmelo Rosalez-Guzmán

Vector light fields: generation, detection and applications

Carmelo Rosales-Guzmán received his B.Sc. in Physics from the National Autonomous University of México—UNAM (Mexico City, Mexico) in 2007. In 2010, he received his M.Sc. from the Institute of Astrophysics Optics and Electronics—INAOE (Puebla, Mexico). In 2015, he received his Ph.D. in Photonics with a Cum Laude mention from ICFO—The Institute of Photonic Sciences (Barcelona, Spain). Since 2009, he has been involved in the generation of structured light fields for different applications. He spent six months in the Optical Manipulation Group led by Professor Kishan Dholakia at School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), pursuing experiments with engineering collisions between Airy Vortex beams. His Ph.D. thesis “Photonic applications based on the use of structured light” focused on exploring the use of structured beams for applications in optical metrology and was supervised by Professor Juan P. Torres. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the structured light laboratory led by Andrew Forbes at the University of Witwatersrand. His research interest include applications of structured light to optical communications and metrology.
 

Dr Chris Hawes

Exploring the plant endomembrane system
with laser-based microscopy

The symposium is being organised by the Laser Research Institute in the Department of Physics, at the University of Stellenbosch for the African Laser Centre.

Organising Committee

 Workshop Chair 

 Prof Erich Rohwer

 Workshop Secretariat

 Prof Piet Walters

 WITS Liaison

 Prof Andrew Forbes

 Review Committee chair

 Dr Christine Steenkamp

 Programme Committee Chair

 Dr Christine Steenkamp

 US Liaison

 Dr Pieter Neethling

 NMMU Liaison

 Prof Ernest van Dyk

 UFS Liaison

 Prof M Ntwaeaborwa

Abstract Review & Scientific Advisory Committee

 Prof Erich Rohwer, US

 Programme Committee

  Prof Andrew Forbes, WITS

Time slots of 20 minutes duration each for oral presentations. This include an introduction by the project leader (< 5 min), presentation by the student, and 3 minutes allocated to questions at the end.  Presentations in English.

Prizes will be awarded for the best presentations. The assessment will be done by the scientific advisory committee

This page is used to announce the latest news regarding the workshop and progress with arrangements.

1. Workshop programme: Please click here for the preliminary programme.
   Please consult the programme to establish your presentation time.
   Please contact Workshop Secretariat or Prof Erich Rohwer if you have any programme queries.

2. Oral presentations:  Due to the full programme, the format of the orals will be as follows.
   Invited speakers:  50 minutes.
   Other speakers:  20 minutes, including project leader introduction, student presentation and questions.  Project leaders are requested to be brief to allow adequate time for student to present and for questions.

3. Poster Presentations:  If you have a poster presentation, the poster size is A0.  Material to attach poster to boards will be supplied.  Please also note that you will have a 2 minute oral introduction of your poster.  For this you will be allowed 1 PowerPoint slide.

4. Workshop Outing:
   There will be an excursion on Saturday afternoon.

5. Local transport arrangements:
   See TRANSPORT below.  The organisers will provide transport from the Cape Town International airport to STIAS.

Accommodation has been reserved at University of Stellenbosch Apartments.

To be updated after the workshop

9th African Laser Centre Student Workshop Group - 2016

Imaging Workshop Group - 2016

Click on the images for a larger version

To be updated after the workshop

+27 21 808 3366

pew@sun.ac.za