Further increase the awareness of the benefits of SESAME in the Middle East. As intended by its founders, the project’s community of physicists and researchers could be further enlarged.

Even though effective funding, among others by the European Union, has contributed to the success of SESAME so far, the support for the international self-governing synchrotron community and the cooperation among researchers needs to be sustained.

Avoid prioritising and placing the political aspects of SESAME’s vision over the scientific results that the project intents to generate in order to justify its standing worldwide. In the worst case, if SESAME showcases an overly explicit ambition of overcoming difference and peace-making, it might just attract the staging of political conflicts. If SESAME is to follow the example of CERN, this means that it has to continue to consolidate the scientific effort before anything else. SESAME and its staff should be supported in exactly this effort.

What the experts think

Learn from an insider expert about SESAME.

Zehra Sayers

Former Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the International Synchrotron Radiation Facility Project SESAME

Could you please explain your experience with SESAME?

Read more!
You may get all the information about this S4D4C case study in the following references:
– Rungius C. (2020): SESAME -a synchrotron light source in the Middle East: an international research infrastructure in the making. In: Young, M., T. Flink, E.Dall (eds.) (2020): Science Diplomacy in the Making: Case-based insights from the S4D4C project, (Link)
– Poster Report “SESAME – An international research infrastructure in the Middle East” (Link)

The material provided under this course is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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