In honour of the International Year of Basic Science for Sustainable Development in 2022 (IYBSSD 2022), the American Physical Society (APS), the European Physical Society (EPS) and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) initiated the joint APS-EPS-ICTP Travel Award Fellowship Programme (ATAP). Since 2023, ATAP has been joined by the APS Forum on Early Career Scientists (FECS).

ATAP is aimed at active early career scientists from developing countries, supporting short-term research visits to laboratories in Europe and North America. The goal of the programme is to enable selected recipients to strengthen opportunities to conduct world-class research, and establish collaborations to enhance their scientific careers. The recipients may return to the laboratories of their alma mater to use laboratory facilities they are familiar with and re-connect with colleagues.

Details on how to apply can be found here.
The deadline for applications is 31^st March 2024.

The Joint APS-ICTP-EPS Travel Award Fellowship Programme (ATAP) is open to currently active early career physicists (within 10 years of their PhD), with good scientific track records, who are  nationals of developing countries and who are currently studying or working in the same or another developing country.  The fellowship allows holders to return to their PhD awarding institution in Europe or North America. The period of the stay is 2 months. The Travel Award Fellowship is USD 5,000, and will be used to cover travel and a living allowance

If you fulfill the above criteria, do not hesitate: Join the ATAP programme!

Details on how to apply can be found here.
The deadline for applications is 31^st March 2023.

The ICTP, based in Trieste, Italy, has established a programme specifically designed for wider collaboration with external partners: The International Training and Research (INTR) Programme. INTR provides the opportunity for active early career scientists from developing countries to reinforce, renew, or in extraordinary cases, create scientific collaborations by providing grants for short-term research visits to participating laboratories in all of Europe and North America.

A unique feature of INTR is that it allows multiple stakeholders to join forces with ICTP to ensure the success of these visits. In cooperation with the APS and the EPS, a dedicated specialised framework has been created to facilitate the return of early career scientists to the universities and research centres where they obtained their Ph.D., known as the Joint APS-ICTP-EPS Travel Award Fellowship Programme. This programme enables selected recipients from developing countries to return to the laboratories of institution where they obtained their PhD and to use laboratory facilities which may not be available in their home country. This strengthens the recipients’ opportunities to conduct world-class research and build their list of publications.  In addition, through ICTP, the recipients are trained in writing grant proposals which enables them to access to research opportunities after returning to their home laboratories.

The American Physical Society (APS) the European Physical Society (EPS) and the  International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) are pleased to announce the second edition of the Joint APS - ICTP - EPS Travel Award Fellowship Programme as part of their activities to support the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development in 2022.

The programme, which began as a three-year pilot in 2022, is currently running its second edition. In 2023 the APS Forum for Early Career Scientists (FECS) joined the programme as a fourth sponsor. The ICTP, the APS, the EPS, and the FECS have pledged to contribute USD 5,000 each, to fund up to 4 travel grants in 2023.

A fairer and more sustainable future for our increasingly interconnected world calls for a better balance in the access to knowledge between countries in the North and South. The requirements for sustainable science and technology ecosystems include high-level education and basic research, and the dissemination of scientific thought and ideas, that can, in turn, inspire creators of innovative technologies. African physicists are making exceptional efforts addressing these challenges, including new and effective communication strategies described below, all while facing the global pandemic.

To know more, read the August issue of The African Physics Newsletter (APN)

https://us19.campaign-archive.com/?u=63e42c583930d9f7a8b637982&id=274f14a00c

The African Physics Newsletter (APN) is a quarterly publication produced by and for African physicists that fosters communication among physicists in Africa, the diaspora community, and the broader international physics community.

This newsletter is the result of a survey of African physics that was conducted by the “Physics in Africa” Project, a cooperative effort between the South African Institute of Physics, the European Physical Society, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, the UK Institute of Physics, and the American Physical Society (APS). The goal of the project was to assess the state of physics in various African nations by inquiring directly with scientific leaders there, and then to identify specific initiatives the international physics community could take to help those nations promote physics in their countries.

This survey revealed a need for a Pan-African communication vehicle with and among African physicists. The APN helps fill this need and allows African physicists to communicate among themselves and share with their peers outside Africa important pieces of information about the physics conducted in Africa. It highlights physics research, current events, meetings, and resources from across the African continent.

The news items are gathered, selected, and composed by a volunteer editorial board of African physicists representing all regions of Africa and the American Physical Society (APS) serves as its publisher. With in-person meetings and collaborations hindered by the global pandemic, the newsletter provides a valuable opportunity for physicists to share information and updates with a broad audience.

For example, the most recent issue of the African Physics Newsletter amplifies the voices of Africans about the challenges and lessons learned following the shut down of schools, research facilities, and the experience of students in the time of covid-19. The need for inclusiveness, and eliminating racism in our societies, is also addressed.

Likewise, other past issues can be found at the link above. To further amplify these voices and support physics in Africa, we ask that you share this newsletter with colleagues and encourage them to join the mailing list to receive future issues. The success of the newsletter depends on its readership and its ability to publish and spread interesting news articles. EPS, therefore, encourages you and your colleagues to subscribe.

To do so, simply go to the website go.aps.org/africanphysics.

In advance we thank you very much for your active support.

27 October 2016 - APS

The Institute for Advanced Study, one of the world’s foremost centers for curiosity-driven basic research, will be recognized by the American Physical Society (APS) and the European Physical Society (EPS) as their first Joint Historic Physics Site in the United States. The award ceremony will immediately follow  The Institute for Advanced Study: The First 100 Years, a public lecture that author and historian George Dyson will give at 5:30pm on Wednesday, November 9. Both will take place in Wolfensohn Hall, on the Institute campus.

The APS-EPS award recognizes the Institute’s pivotal contributions to the development of theoretical physics, including the work of Albert Einstein, one of the Institute’s first professors, who remained there from 1933 until his death in 1955. Also among the Institute’s past Faculty are distinguished scientists and scholars spanning a range of disciplines, including  Robert Oppenheimer, Clifford Geertz, Kurt Gödel, Erwin Panofsky, Hermann Weyl, Hetty Goldman, Homer A. Thompson and John von Neumann. The APS-EPS Historic Site award puts IAS in the company of the Einsteinhaus, the apartment where Einstein lived in Bern, Switzerland, from 1903 to 1905, and the first European site to receive a joint APS-EPS designation, in September 2015.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with the European Physical Society in the first-ever Joint Historic Site for physics in the United States,” said  Homer Neal, President of the American Physical Society. “The Institute for Advanced Study has been one of the premier centers for theoretical physics in the world, hosting physicists in all stages of their careers.” 

Christophe Rossel, President of the European Physical Society, added, “The European Physical Society is particularly pleased to be a partner with the American Physical Society in declaring the famous Institute for Advanced Study as a joint APS-EPS Historic Site. This collaboration, as well as the world’s leading researchers hosted by the IAS since 1930, demonstrate that physics is truly international. The APS and the EPS work in their respective regions to promote physics and its societal impact to the general public and policy makers, linking the past to the future for a successful curiosity-driven pursuit of knowledge.”

Robbert Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor of the Institute, said, “We are deeply honored to be recognized by the American and European Physical Societies, and particularly pleased to be acknowledged for the work of Albert Einstein, who exemplifies the Institute’s commitment to curiosity-driven research and academic freedom and their capacity to produce knowledge that results in technological and cultural advances.”

In celebration of this honor from the APS and EPS, George Dyson, a frequent Director’s Visitor at the Institute, will deliver a public lecture on the creation of the Institute and its early years. In March 1916, social theorist Thorstein Veblen, who coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption” in his 1899 Theory of the Leisure Class, completed his Higher Learning in America, published at the close of World War I in 1918. Veblen called for the post-war institution of “academic houses of refuge,” including “a freely endowed central establishment where teachers and students of all nationalities, including Americans with the rest, may pursue their chosen work.” In 1923, Oswald Veblen followed his uncle’s lead by suggesting to Simon Flexner, director of the Rockefeller Institute, that he help “found and endow a Mathematical Institute.” Noting how often “an attempt to solve a physical problem has resulted in the creation of a new branch of mathematics,” Veblen sought to add other sciences to the mix. 

Simon Flexner answered that “I wish that sometime you might speak with my brother,  Mr. Abraham Flexner,” and Veblen did. Their conversation led, in 1929, to siblings  Louis Bamberger and Caroline Bamberger Fuld, who had launched their retail fortune by selling distressed merchandise out of a vacant Newark storefront in 1892. The Bambergers saw the flood of distressed intellectuals fleeing Europe as an opportunity not to be missed. To advance not only the pursuit of knowledge, but, as Abraham Flexner put it, “the cause of social justice which we have deeply at heart,” they opened a department store for the freedom of ideas.

Support for this event is provided by a grant from the Schwab Charitable Fund made possible by the generosity of Eric and Wendy Schmidt.

About the  Institute for Advanced Study

The Institute for Advanced Study is one of the world’s leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. The Institute exists to encourage and support curiosity-driven research in the sciences and humanities—the original, often speculative thinking that produces advances in knowledge that change the way we understand the world. Work at the Institute takes place in four Schools: Historical Studies, Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Science. It provides for the mentoring of scholars by a permanent Faculty of approximately 30, and it ensures the freedom to undertake research that will make significant contributions in any of the broad range of fields in the sciences and humanities studied at the Institute.

The Institute, founded in 1930, is a private, independent academic institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. Its more than 6,000 former Members hold positions of intellectual and scientific leadership throughout the academic world. Thirty-three Nobel Laureates and 41 out of 56 Fields Medalists, as well as many winners of the Wolf and MacArthur prizes, have been affiliated with the Institute.

About the American Physical Society

The American Physical Society is a non-profit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 53,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, MD (Headquarters), Ridge, NY, and Washington, D.C.

About the European Physical Society

The European Physical Society is a not for profit association whose members include 42 National Physical Societies in Europe, individuals from all fields of physics, and European research institutions. As a learned society, the EPS engages in activities that strengthen ties among the physicists in Europe. As a federation of National Physical Societies, the EPS studies issues of concern to all European countries relating to physics research, science policy and education.