The 6th Africa Materials Research Society biennial Conference takes place at the picturesque Elephant Hills Hotel, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from 11th to 16th December 2011 (http://www.africamrs.co.za/Home.html).

This year’s Conference will focus on six broad materials research themes, including some of special interest to Africa. Key international leaders will discuss recent breakthroughs and future directions. The Conference will also provide an opportunity for policy, education and networking dialogue, and will help define challenges and future priorities for materials research and development in Africa and globally. This Conference follows previous ones in Nigeria, Tanzania, Morocco, South Africa and Senegal.

The ICPC Nanonet Project (http://www.icpc-nanonet.org) has been invited to deliver a presentation entitled “Bridging the Nano Divide through the ICPC Nanonet Project”. This will highlight how the project provides access to knowledge and creates tools to facilitate networking between scientists and researchers intra and inter-regionally by overcoming political, economic and geographical barriers to nano knowledge acquisition. The conference itself will provide an unprecendented opportunity to find out first-hand about the latest R&D from the participants themselves, who include representatives from ICPC Nanonet Associate Partner ‘Nanoscience Africa Network’ (NanoAfNet), ANSOLE and of course AMRS itself. The information gathered will be available in the Fourth Annual Region Report, in March 2012 from the project website.

For further information, email africamrs@gmail.com and for general questions about the conference, please contact Joe Zimba, President of the Africa MRS email:  joezimba1@yahoo.com