A Vision for African Physics
In June 2025, the Technical University of Kenya hosted a landmark event: the ICTP-PWF Methodological School on Density Functional Theory. This wasn’t just another training workshop—it was a tangible manifestation of a larger vision embodied by the APhRICA Network (Advanced Physics tRaIning and Collaboration with Africa).
As someone who has witnessed firsthand the transformative power of computational physics training, from my own fellowship at ICTP Trieste to now facilitating similar opportunities in Nairobi, I want to share why initiatives like APhRICA matter and what they mean for Africa’s scientific future.
The Challenge: Building Sustainable Capacity
African institutions face a unique set of challenges in computational sciences:
- Limited access to computational resources - Many universities lack modern HPC infrastructure
- Brain drain - Talented researchers often leave for better-resourced institutions abroad
- Isolation from global research networks - Fewer opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange
- Training gaps - Limited local expertise in advanced computational methods
These aren’t insurmountable problems, but they require coordinated, sustained effort to address.
The APhRICA Response
The APhRICA Network takes a different approach. Rather than sending African scientists abroad for training (though that remains valuable), we’re building sustainable training ecosystems within Africa.
Key Principles
Local Training Hubs: Establishing centers of excellence across the continent where advanced training can happen locally. The Technical University of Kenya is proud to be one such hub.
Long-term Mentorship: Moving beyond one-off workshops to sustained mentorship relationships. Training shouldn’t end when a workshop does.
Infrastructure Development: Combining training with actual infrastructure—providing access to computational resources, not just knowledge about them.
South-South Collaboration: Fostering connections between African institutions and researchers, creating a continental network of expertise.
The ICTP-PWF DFT School: A Case Study
The June-July 2025 ICTP-PWF school exemplified these principles in action. Over two intense weeks, we brought together:
- Young researchers from across East Africa
- International faculty with deep expertise in DFT
- Hands-on computational resources for practical training
- A curriculum spanning theory to implementation
What Made It Different
Traditional computational physics schools often focus purely on theory or, conversely, treat software as a black box. We aimed for a middle path:
Theory meets Practice: Participants learned not just how to run DFT calculations, but why the approximations work, when they fail, and how to interpret results critically.
Real Research Problems: Rather than toy examples, we tackled actual research questions relevant to African contexts—materials for solar energy, catalysis for industrial processes, computational drug discovery.
Collaborative Learning: Participants worked in teams, mimicking real research group dynamics. The best learning often happens peer-to-peer.
Beyond the Classroom: Evening sessions featured discussions on research careers, grant writing, building research groups—the “hidden curriculum” of academic success.
Infrastructure Matters: HPC for African Research
One cannot discuss computational training without discussing computational infrastructure. Through my work with KENET and at NACOSTI, I’ve seen how access to HPC resources transforms what’s possible.
The APhRICA initiative recognizes this. Training without resources is like teaching someone to swim without access to water. That’s why we’re pursuing parallel tracks:
- Training the next generation of computational scientists
- Building the infrastructure they need to work
- Developing sustainable models for ongoing operation
The STAMPEDE cluster at NACOSTI and the KENET GPU cluster represent steps toward this vision—sovereign computational infrastructure controlled by and serving African researchers.
Lessons from the Field
What Works
Intensive, focused training: Two weeks of immersive learning beats scattered seminars. Participants leave with confidence and capability.
Access to experts: Direct interaction with world-class faculty is invaluable. Video lectures can’t replace in-person mentorship.
Computational hands-on time: Every participant had their own cluster access. No sharing credentials, no waiting for compute time.
Community building: Cohorts form networks that persist long after training ends. This multiplies impact.
Ongoing Challenges
Sustainability: How do we ensure participants have continued access to resources after training?
Career paths: How do we create viable career trajectories for computational scientists in African institutions?
Gender balance: Physics has a gender problem globally, but we must do better in our own context.
Resource constraints: Funding remains a constant challenge. International partnerships help, but we need sustainable local funding models.
Looking Forward: A Continental Computational Network
The vision extends beyond any single training event. We’re working toward:
Regional Centers of Excellence
Multiple hubs across Africa, each with:
- Modern HPC infrastructure
- Faculty expertise in computational methods
- Active research programs
- Regular training offerings
These centers would be interconnected, forming a continental network where resources, expertise, and students can flow.
Curriculum Development
Developing Africa-focused computational physics curricula that:
- Address locally relevant research questions
- Build on existing strengths
- Are accessible to institutions with varying resources
- Incorporate open-source tools
Research Collaboration
Moving from training to research collaboration. APhRICA aims to facilitate joint research projects that:
- Address African challenges
- Involve multiple African institutions
- Build sustainable research partnerships
- Produce high-impact publications
The Role of International Partnerships
Initiatives like ICTP’s Physics Without Frontiers program are crucial. They provide:
- Financial support for training events
- Access to international faculty
- Connections to global research networks
- Validation and visibility for African efforts
But the goal isn’t dependence—it’s partnership. African institutions bring:
- Local context and research priorities
- Growing computational capacity
- Emerging expertise
- Commitment to long-term development
The strongest partnerships recognize mutual benefit.
Why This Matters
Some might ask: why invest in computational physics capacity in Africa? Aren’t there more pressing needs?
I’d argue computational capacity IS a pressing need. Every modern challenge—climate change, disease, energy, materials, agriculture—has a computational component. Building local capacity means:
Addressing local problems with local expertise: African researchers understand African contexts in ways external researchers cannot.
Economic opportunity: Computational skills are increasingly valuable globally. This creates opportunities for African graduates.
Intellectual sovereignty: Asking and answering our own research questions, not always being the subjects of others’ research.
Youth engagement: Computational science excites young people. It’s a way to keep talented students engaged with science.
A Call to Action
If you’re an African researcher or student interested in computational physics:
- Seek out training opportunities (check the APhRICA network)
- Build connections with peers across the continent
- Don’t wait for perfect conditions—start computing with what you have
- Contribute back—mentor the next generation
If you’re at an institution:
- Invest in computational infrastructure, even modestly
- Support faculty developing computational expertise
- Create incentives for computational research
- Partner with networks like APhRICA
If you’re an international colleague:
- Engage as partners, not saviors
- Support long-term capacity building, not just one-off events
- Facilitate, don’t dictate
- Recognize the expertise that exists on the continent
Conclusion
The ICTP-PWF DFT school was a success by any measure—engaged participants, excellent instruction, real learning. But its true measure will be its long-term impact: the research produced, the careers launched, the networks formed.
APhRICA represents something larger—a bet that Africa can and will be a player in computational science, not just a recipient of computational services. The infrastructure is being built, the networks are forming, the expertise is growing.
The future of African physics is being computed right now. And we’re doing the computing ourselves.
Dr. Michael Atambo is an HPC Facilitator at KENET and Lecturer at the Technical University of Kenya. He is involved in the APhRICA Network and has been instrumental in establishing HPC infrastructure at NACOSTI and KENET. He can be reached at michael.atambo@tukenya.ac.ke
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