Electromagnetic dipole response studies at the southern tip of Africa

Major experimental and analytical progress for measuring Photon Strength Functions (PSFs) and Nuclear Level Densities (NLDs) have taken place over the last few years and will be reviewed. These advancements lay the groundwork for ambitious measurements of PSFs and NLDs at radioactive and stable ion beam facilities. Some of the facility infrastructure developments at iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Sciences (iThemba LABS) for PSF measurements will be presented. Additionally, recent experimental progress in unravelling the underlying nuclear mechanisms of the lowest energy modes, the scissors resonance and the low-energy enhancement, will be discussed. The measurements of PSFs and NLDs have the potential to not only enhance our understanding of nuclear structures but also nucleosynthesis processes, as will be demonstrated with a few examples.