Italy-South Africa: New agreement signed between the National Research Foundation-iThemba LABS and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics

A new agreement to strengthen the collaboration between South Africa and Italy in the field of nuclear physics and its applications was signed on Monday, 12 September 2022, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, South Africa. The interests of the two countries were represented by the National Research Foundation (NRF) on behalf of its national facility, iThemba LABS and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN).

The collaboration agreement, in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), was signed by the NRF’s Deputy CEO for National Research Infrastructure Platforms, Dr Clifford Nxomani and the Vice-President of the INFN, Marco Pallavicini, on behalf of the President of the Institute, Antonio Zoccoli. The MoU consolidates the cooperation between NRF-iThemba LABS and the National Laboratories of Legnaro and the South, in the production and study of heavy ions. It is envisaged that the agreement will facilitate the mobility of researchers and the sharing of instruments and materials between the two institutes. In particular, the focus will be on research in the fields of nuclear physics and astrophysics; the study and development of accelerators for basic research; and the production of radioisotopes for medicine, such as SAIF at NRF-iThemba LABS, the SPES cyclotron at the Italian National Facility in Legnaro and the FRAISE and NUMEN projects at the Italian National Facility in Catania.

The agreement was signed in the presence of the Director General of the INFN, Nando Minnella, a representative of the Executive Board of the INFN, Diego Bettoni and the Director of NRF-iThemba LABS, Dr Faïҫal Azaïez. It positions NRF-iThemba LABS as the gateway for South African nuclear physicists to access global-scale nuclear physics research infrastructures, and strengthens the facility’s capacity to address socio-economic challenges such as scarce skills development and improved societal health through the provision of radioisotopes for cancer diagnosis and treatment, says Nxomani.