| | | DHET and Google Advance AI Skills Through Landmark Partnership |
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| | | The Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, and Google South Africa Country Director Kabelo Makwane recently officiated the signing of a landmark Letter of Intent (LOI) aimed at strengthening digital skills and AI integration across South Africa’s higher education sector. The partnership focuses on equipping students and educators with future-ready skills through initiatives such as Google Career Certificate scholarships, AI curriculum integration, educator training, device support, and AI policy development. |
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| | AIMS South Africa was invited to participate in the event, where Prof Karin-Therese Howell shared insights from its Google.org-supported initiatives in higher education. During a panel discussion, AIMS highlighted its multi-country partnership with the FATE Foundation to deliver the Advanced Artificial Intelligence Upskilling Programme across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. |
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| | CPUT, SPU, UFH & UNIZULU Postgraduates in Mathematical Sciences Join AIMS South Africa Students for the Transformative Africa Scientifique Programme |
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| | | | | The 2026 Africa Scientifique programme at AIMS South Africa continues to strengthen its programmatic framework, delivering impact across two key beneficiary streams: AIMS Mastercard Foundation Scholars and postgraduate students in mathematical sciences from partner universities across South Africa. The programme equips participants with essential science communication and leadership skills, enabling them to engage broader audiences and navigate an evolving scientific and technological landscape. |
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| Rooted in an Afrocentric approach, the programme promotes the integration of indigenous knowledge and meaningful public engagement, while strengthening career readiness through communication and leadership development. |
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| | In March 2026, the Phase 1 Introductory Workshops were delivered to postgraduate students in the mathematical sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), the University of Fort Hare (UFH), Sol Plaatje University (SPU), and the University of Zululand (UNIZULU). |
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| | The Africa Universities Summit Keynote |
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| | Prof. Ulrich Paquet, speaking at the Times Higher Education Africa Universities Summit on 30 March in Nairobi, called for a surge in localized AI research to drive the continent’s human capital and economic growth. Addressing vice-chancellors and academic leaders, Paquet unveiled a free, world-class technical program tailored for African researchers in a talk titled "Empowering Africa’s next AI pioneers: Google DeepMind’s AI Research Foundations and tools for the future of learning". |
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| | Developed alongside University College London (UCL), the university-level course prioritises high-impact skills, specifically the development and fine-tuning of language models using African-centric data and localized contexts. To scale the initiative, Paquet announced new lecturer toolkits and training programs to help faculty integrate cutting-edge AI into existing curricula. The rollout is backed by Google.org and partnerships with AIMS South Africa and the FATE Foundation in Nigeria. |
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| | Women in Mathematics Research Conference |
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| | | | | The Women in Mathematics Research Conference was held at AIMS South Africa on 27 March 2026, bringing together researchers, students, and academics to celebrate and showcase the work of women in mathematics. |
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| | The programme featured research talks across a range of areas, alongside panel discussions on topics including career pathways, collaboration, mentorship, and representation in the field. |
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| | A highlight of the conference was the poster session, where AIMS students |
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| presented their research alongside third-year Discrete Mathematics students from Stellenbosch University, led by Dr Riana Roux. This provided a valuable platform for students to share their work and engage with the wider mathematical community. |
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| | The organisers were Prof. Nancy Neudauer (Pacific University), Dr Riana Roux (Stellenbosch University) and Prof. Karin-Therese Howell. We are grateful for financial support from the Mathematics Division at Stellenbosch University. |
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| | Welcoming Visitors to AIMS South Africa |
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| | | | March saw several important visits to AIMS South Africa, strengthening relationships and opening new avenues for collaboration. |
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| | | Mastercard Foundation Delegation |
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| | On 9 March, we were delighted to host a delegation from the Mastercard Foundation, including Adrian Bukenya (Senior Director, Scholars Program), Ivy Mwai (Acting Director, Scholars Program), Judith Akoto (Impact Head, Scholars Program), and Basirat Agboola (Head, Scholars Program Partner Networks). |
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| | | | | The visit provided an opportunity to reflect on the progress of Phase 2 of the Scholars Program at AIMS, while also engaging with the current cohort of Scholars, who shared insights into their leadership development and give-back initiatives. |
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| We also welcomed Warren Buford from the University of Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science to explore potential areas for collaboration. |
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| | | | A delegation from Coventry University, led by Prof. Matthew England, Director of the Research Centre for Computational Science and Mathematical Modelling, also visited AIMS for discussions on future partnership opportunities. |
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| | | | | In addition, Prof Regan Solomons from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital visited AIMS to discuss collaboration in the application of AI in health. |
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| | | | | These engagements reflect AIMS South Africa’s growing network of academic and clinical partners, and our continued commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration across science, technology, and health. |
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| | Cosmology & Astrophysics Research Group updates |
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| | | | | Prof. Amanda Weltman recently delivered a keynote talk at the Cosmology in the Alps meeting, held in Les Diablerets, Switzerland from 18 to 22 March 2026. The conference focused on radio cosmology and brought together international experts and early-career researchers to foster collaboration, support developments in the field, and highlight Swiss contributions to the global cosmology landscape. It was hosted by the Swiss Consortium to the SKAO (SKACH). |
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| | This Research Group went on a much needed collaborative research retreat to Langebaan at the end of March. The retreat was entirely organised and run by the group postdocs Dr Jaikhomba Singha and Dr Jeferson Fortunato. Time was set aside each day to advance research collaborations, to make progress on projects together, to work on writing and for CV planning with ample time set aside for team building activities. These included outings to the beach, supping, walks, cooking together, working on a giant puzzle and late nights playing assorted board games. |
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| | The retreat provided valuable time for focused research and planning, with the group returning to Cape Town energised and having made strong progress across projects, including preparations for the upcoming IPTA meeting in South Africa. |
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| | AIMS South Africa welcomes Biomathematics Honours Students |
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| | | | | In addition to our Master’s programmes in Mathematical Sciences and AI for Science, AIMS South Africa, in collaboration with Stellenbosch University (SU), offers a BSc Honours programme in Biomathematics. |
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| This year, we are pleased to welcome five SU students to our campus: Bonolo Tshabalala, Shannon Bartlett, Morgan Du Plessis, Ashton Robinson, and Tayla Botha (pictured left to right). The students have settled into the Mathematics Hotel and are fully integrated into academic life at AIMS. |
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| | | | AIMS students continued to benefit from courses delivered by an international group of lecturers during the March 2026 teaching block. |
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| | In the AI for Science stream, Reinforcement Learning was taught by Dr Arnu Pretorius (InstaDeep), introducing students to core concepts including Markov decision processes, dynamic programming, and modern value-based and policy gradient methods. AI for Biomedicine was delivered by Dr Tiago Azevedo (University of Cambridge), covering applications of artificial intelligence in biomedical imaging and neuroscience. Principles of Imaging for Radio Astronomy was taught by Dr Marta Spinelli (Université Côte d’Azur) and Dr Landman Bester (South African Radio Astronomy Observatory; Rhodes University). |
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| | | | | | | | Marta Spinelli and Landman Bester |
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| | In the Mathematical Sciences stream, Mathematics and Art in Africa was presented by Prof. Steven Bradlow (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), the SAGE course was given by Dr Kenneth Dadedzi (University of Ghana) and Graph Theory was taught by Dr Opeyemi Oyewumi (AIMS South Africa). |
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| | AIMS extends its sincere thanks to all lecturers for their time, expertise, and commitment to delivering a rich and engaging learning experience. |
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| | | | | | | The AT AIMS group recently hosted a writing retreat for female mathematicians, supported by the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences. The retreat created a focused and supportive space for research, collaboration, and mentorship, allowing participants to step away from daily academic demands. |
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| Participants worked on topics including semirings, graph topology, and loop analysis, strengthening both research progress and professional connections. |
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| | Participants included Prof. Karin-Therese Howell, Claudia Justus (SU), Ruth Abbey, Dr Lesley Wessels (SU), Meva Rakotondratoetra. |
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| | Launch of the New AIMS South Africa Website |
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| | | | In March, AIMS South Africa launched its new website. The updated site provides a refreshed platform to share information on our programmes, research, partnerships, and activities. We invite you to explore the new website and discover more about our work and vision. |
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