The African Light Source: Towards a Brighter Future

The African Light Source Foundation works toward positioning a synchrotron light source on the continent of Africa - the only habitable continent without this high impact infrastructure. The work has included convening of three international conferences, the first at ESRF in Grenoble, France (2015) and the second at the University of Ghana - Legon (2019). The third will convene in Kigali, Rwanda (November 2020). In 2015, a steering committee was elected and a set of resolutions and roadmap were developed. Since then, actions to advance the roadmap have included developing: the Pan African and African governmental profile, the user base, human capacity and local feeder infrastructure, regional and African consortia programs, and linkages to stakeholders; initiating the Conceptual Design Report and acquiring funding. One important human capacity building program is led by the LAAAMP project (sponsored by IUPAP and the IUCr). A recent publication in \textit{Biophysical Reviews} highlights the socioeconomic case for an advanced light source in Africa. Read more at http://www.africanlightsource.org/ and https://laamp.iucr.org/.