African Laser Center
The African Laser Centre (ALC) is a New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) flagship initiative and Southern African participation is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) through its Africa multilateral cooperation programme. The ALC was launched at the Ministerial NEPAD summit in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2003.
Mission
The mission of the ALC is to enable African nations to collaborate with each other and play a major international role in utilising light to advance science and technology
Vision
This will contribute to the strengthening of their economies, global competitiveness, education and the welfare of their people.
Goal
Cooperation will therefore take place in the spirit of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the African Union.
About
Our path to scientific strength is marked by discovery
It is a virtual organisation, bringing together researchers from across Africa in the field of lasers and spectroscopy. The organisation was started as a fledgling programme within the CSIR National Laser Centre and is aimed at encouraging research collaboration between the African researcher and facilitating researchers, and student exchanges between African institutes. The ALC supports research collaboration, scholarships and training.
Research conducted by the ALC research teams throughout Africa is laser-based and pluridisciplinary. The projects are peer-reviewed by an ALC assembled independent panel of experts. The research fields include but are not limited to:
NANOTECHNOLOGY
MATERIAL PROCESSING
SPECTROSCOPY
MANUFACTURING
NANO TECHNOLOGY
MATERIAL SCIENCE
COMMUNICATION
HEALTH
Supporting Scientific Development that Encourages Teamwork
What We Do
The ALC provides laser researchers and industrialists throughout Africa with support to access research and training facilities.
The ALC offers the following programmes which aim to further enrich the knowledge base within laser application technology:
Research Collaboration Programme
Support For Training Events
ALC Scholarships
ALC Knowledge Exchange Programme
Maintain a database of laser researchers in the region and facilitate collaboration among them
Support the transfer of technology from research laboratories to the marketplace
Support research and educational programmes in laser technology through partcipation at conferences, workshops, and topical school programmes
The Objectives of the ALC:
Promote the research and training programmes of major laser research facilities that currently exist in Africa to serve the continent as a whole.
Support technology transfer of laser knowledge captured within the ALC amongst its members and throughout the industry.
Improve the quality of life of all African peoples and beneficiaries of the ALC.
Provide financial resources, technical assistance and equipment loans to laser researchers throughout Africa.
Promote collaboration among laser researchers throughout Africa, as well as between laser institutions and their international counterparts to enhance laser-driven initiatives in Africa.
Retain and attract laser expertise by providing a competitive knowledge base and attractive research facilities to ensure that African laser facilities become preferred research environments for the international and African community.
Support expanding research and infrastructure of laser research facilities in Africa through flagship projects, e.g. acquiring state-of-the- art equipment such as Femtosecond lasers in appropriate laboratories.
Key Nodes of the ALC
The ALC builds competencies by developing existing expertise and infrastructure. The below mentioned facilities constitute the core nodes of the ALC:
| Facility | Location | Field of Specialisation |
| CSIR National Laser Centre | Pretoria, South Africa | Manufacturing, Machining and Materials Processing |
| National Laser Centre Biophotonics | Pretoria, South Africa | Medical / Bio Laser applications |
| University of Cheikh Anta Diop | Dakar, Senegal | Agricultural and Environmental Science |
| Laser and Fibre Optics Centre | Cape Coast, Ghana | Agricultural and Environmental Science |
| National Institute of Laser Enhanced Science | Cairo, Egypt | Medical and Biological Applications of Lasers |
| Tunis El Manar University | Tunis, Tunisia | Plant and Environmental Science and Molecular Spectroscopy |
| Advanced Technologies Development Centre | Algiers, Algeria | Laser Spectroscopy and Surface Studies |
2025 ALC Funding Programs
Call for ALC Training Program applications 2025/26
On behalf of the DSTI and the CSIR Photonics Centre we herewith invite proposals for the African Laser Centre Training program for the 2025/26 funding cycle. The program supports training related events involving researchers and students active in the field of laser...
Stellenbosch laser physicists to develop protocol for production of high-tech radiopharmaceuticals
Sellenbosch University (SU) and high-tech company Enlightened Isotopes, a subsidiary of ASP Isotopes, have entered into an R8.5-million research partnership to develop a protocol for the separation of the ytterbium-176 isotope, to be used as a radiopharmaceutical in...
15th African Laser Centre Student Workshop
The purpose of the symposium is to bring together ALC grant holders and partners from across Africa, and students at South African universities who are working in the various ALC sponsored projects. The workshop programme is designed to facilitate student...
Physicist Sekazi Mtingwa considers himself an apostle of science
Ask physicist Sekazi Mtingwa how he ended up where he is today, and he’ll start with his grandmother’s deeply religious home. Growing up there in Atlanta, young Mtingwa somehow got the idea that he was the second coming of Christ. “I believed that for years,” Mtingwa...
Call for Proposals – African Laser Centre Research Collaboration Programme 2025
The ALC invites proposals from South African researchers planning to collaborate with partners on the African continent via the ALC Research Collaboration programme. The African Laser Centre is a NEPAD flagship initiative and is funded by the Department of Science and...
African Laser Centre Scholarships for Postgraduate Studies in Lasers and Laser Applications, 2025
The CSIR invites applications from researchers locally and across Africa with active collaborations with researchers at South African universities for bursary support to further their postgraduate studies in laser and laser application-related disciplines in 2025. The...
Knowledge Exchange Programme (KEP)
The African Laser Centre initiative at the CSIR is calling for South African and African researchers with active collaborations in lasers and laser-related applications needing financial support for knowledge exchange visits for their students in the 2025 academic...