Conference secretariat

Prof. J.V. Tesha
(President MRS-Africa 2006-2007)
Department of Engineering Materials
Faculty of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering
College of Engineering and Technology (CoET)
University of Dar es Salaam
P.O. Box 35131
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Phone: +255 2410367
Fax : +255 2410114
Email: tesha@udsm.ac.tz
website: under construction

Background
Over the past few years, significant progress has been made in developing collaborations between African countries in materials science and engineering research and education. The NSF/NRF-sponsored workshop held in Pretoria, South Africa, in August of 2000 brought together a number of academic and industrial materials scientists as well as Government scientific representatives from a number of countries in Africa and the US to discuss potential collaborations in the area of materials science research and education. The workshop resulted in the creation of the African Materials Research Society (MRS-Africa) and the organisation of the first International Conference of the African Materials Research Society in Dakar, Senegal, in December 2002.

The second International Conference of MRS-Africa was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in December 2003, and was attended by more than 180 participants from many countries in Africa, Europe, Canada, India, USA, Jamaica, Japan, and New Zealand. About 138 contributions were presented at this conference covering all aspect of materials research.
The third MRS-Africa International Conference was held in Marrakesh Morocco from 7 to 10 December 2005. The conference was well attended with about 230 participants and over 400 abstracts. Papers from this conference are expected to be published in International Journal of Physics (IOP), April 2007. Participants also agreed on and adopted the MRS-Africa constitution.

The fourth MRS-Africa International Conference will be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from 10 to 14 December 2007, organized by Eastern Africa-MRS in collaboration with the College of Engineering and Technology (CoET), University of Dar es Salaam. While focussing on the well accepted materials research themes as in the second and third conference, the conference will also provide an opportunity for MRS-Africa members to interact with other scientists and researchers from Africa and the world as well as members of the International Conference on Non-conventional Materials (INOCMAT).

Conference topics
The conference is aimed at “Cementing Collaborations in Materials Research in Africa”. The broad conference themes therefore should be in materials physics, materials chemistry and materials science and engineering. These will include:
01. Processing, testing and characterisation of materials, non destructive testing
02. Infrastructure materials
03. Materials for energy production
04. Composites, polymers, glasses, ceramics, metals, alloys, oxides.
05. Raw materials beneficiation and mineral processing.
06. Materials recycling
07. Materials for acoustics
08. Nanomaterials
09. Biomaterials
10. Computational aspects of materials
11. Materials education
12. Materials for water treatments
13. Materials for environmental applications
14. Materials for medical applications
15. Catalytic, electrical, magnetic, mechanical, optical and thermal properties of materials
16. Non-conventional materials
17. Materials Chemistry
(List not exhaustive suggestions are welcome)

Conference Structure
- Plenary lectures, key note, oral presentations, poster sessions and industrial exhibitions
- Technical tours of various research facilities in and around Dar es Salaam, visits and excursions.

Language
Oral presentations, Abstracts, posters and full texts will be in English.

Tentative Schedule
31 March 2007: Beginning of pre-registration and submission of abstracts
30 June 2007: Deadline for receipt of abstracts
31 July 2007: Notification of acceptance of abstracts
30 September 2007: Deadline for receipt of full papers and registration payment
31 October 2007: Final program

Abstracts
Interested authors are requested to submit short abstracts of their proposed papers. Abstract should be sent by e-mail to : tesha@udsm.ac.tz
Include: the paper title; the names of all authors; the complete postal, email addresses of the corresponding author and title.
Publication
After the review process, all accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings which will have an ISBN number.

Conference Fees

This fee will cover the conference dinner, lunches during the conference, all coffee breaks as well as a copy of the published book of abstracts.

Second circular
The second circular will contain the tentative conference program as well as more details on accommodation and reception conditions.

Location of the conference
The conference will be held at Whitesands Hotel, Resort and Conference centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Bookings at special conference rates can be made at whitesands@hotelwhitesands.com or info@hotelwhitesands.com Information about the hotel can be found at the hotel website, www.hotelwhitesands.com
Tel.: +255 22 264 7620/1/2/4/5/6
Fax.: +255 22 264 7875

Local Organising committee
Chairperson: Prof. J.V. Tesha.
Prof. B. Mwamilla, Dr. C.W. Nyahumwa, Prof. Y. Kohi, Dr. J .Buchweishaija, Dr. A. Temu., Dr. B. Ndazi, Prof. S.J. Shine, Prof. R. Kivaisi, Prof. J.S. Mshana, Dr. H.T. Kimweri, Dr. J. Mdoe, Dr.R..J. Minja, Dr. L. Mwaikambo.

Conference Advisory Committee (Executive Committee – MRS Africa)
Prof. A. Beye (Senegal)
Prof. O.Adewoye(Nigeria)
Prof. Y. Ballim (SA)
Prof. A. El Jazouli (Morocco)
Dr. Buchweishaja (TZ)
Prof. Cheihkroho (Tunisia)
Prof. Banda (Uganda)
Prof. C. Chama (Zambia)
Dr. J. Zimba (Zimbabwe)

International Scientific Committee
Banda E. (Uganda)
Chang R.P.H. (USA)
Lachgar (USA)
Aduda B.(Kenya)
Otiti Tom (Uganda)
Bisanda E. (Rwanda)
Ghavami (Brazil)
Savastano (Brazil)
Sigbritt K. (Sweden)
Maaza, M. (SA)
Cheetham, A. (USA)
Babatope, B (Nigeria)
Every A. (South Africa)
Mona Marei (Egypt)
Kenai S. (Algeria) Osseo-Asare K. (USA) Sathiaraj S.(Botswana) Soboyejo W. (USA) Asfaw. A.. (Ethiopia)
Dongo, E.(Cameroon)
Mtenga, P. (USA)
Nava Setter (Swiss)
Douta Tall, P (Senegal)
Msambichaka, J. (TZ)
(List not exhaustive, Suggestions welcome)

Support for the Conference Organisation
Support for the organisation of the conference as well travel and accomodation assistance for a select number of African scientists is being sought from various source including: NRF (SA), NSF(USA), US-MRS, USAMI (Princeton), IUMRS, UNESCO, TWAS, ALC, COSTEC, SidaSAREC