| | 2025 AS Programme for UNIZULU Kicks Off |
|
| | | | On 15 May 2025, postgraduate students and staff from the University of Zululand Department of Mathematical Sciences participated in an online Africa Scientifique (AS) Introductory Workshop, marking the commencement of a transformative journey in science communication. The workshop formed part of the 2025 three-phase Africa Scientifique programme, conducted by AIMS House of Science in partnership with African Gong. |
|
| | The workshop began with welcoming remarks from Mr Philane Majozi, a Lecturer at UNIZULU. |
|
| |
|
| He commended the partnership between UNIZULU, AIMS, and African Gong in providing the next generation of researchers with the vital tools they require to thrive not only in academia but also in society. |
|
| | The workshop brought together 24 UNIZULU postgraduate students and staff for an engaging session filled with insights and inspiration from expert facilitators and AS programme Alumni. |
|
| | |
|
| |
|
|
| May 12 - Celebrating Women in Mathematics |
|
| | |
|
|
| | | | On 12 May the SAMS Women in Mathematics (WiM) Division of the South African Mathematical Society held a May 12 event as part of the 180 worldwide events to celebrate women in mathematics. The events serve as a commemoration of the life and work of Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to be awarded a Fields Medal in 2014. The event was hosted by the Stellenbosch University Mathematics Division and included students from UCT, SU, AIMS and UWC. |
|
| | Jillian Reilly spoke about giving ourselves permission to stand out and employ our skills and agency in the environments we are in. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| | The event was live streamed from the Neelsie Cinema to satellite events at WITS (including UP and UJ), University of KwaZulu Natal, Rhodes University and Sol Plaatje University. |
|
| | Thanks to Prof. Sibusiso Moyo and Prof. Ingrid Rewitzky (Stellenbosch University) for their support of the event and their role in mentoring the next generation of women in mathematics. |
|
| | We are grateful for funding and support from the DSTI-NRF CoE-MaSS, the Stellenbosch University Mathematics Division and the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences that made the event possible |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| | | | | | | We had the great pleasure of hosting Prof. Martin Bucher and Dr Andronikos Paliathanasis for a visit on 30 May. |
|
| | Prof. Martin Bucher, CNRS Directeur de Recherche in Astrophysics, also holds a part-time position at Stellenbosch University where he is Fractional Professor jointly between Physics and Data Sciences. |
|
|
|
| | Dr Andronikos Paliathanasis from Universidad Catolica del Norte, currently has a research fellowship through NITheCS at Stellenbosch University. They met with some students interested in their areas of specialisation to discuss career planning and potential research projects for further study. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| | | | | | | At the Research Meeting held on 14 May, resident PhD student Siya Mthimkulu presented his ongoing research titled "On Fibrant Double Categories." |
|
|
|
| Siya is jointly supervised by Prof. D. Holgate (UWC/AIMS), Dr. Graham Manuell (SU), Dr. Peter Faul (SU), and Prof. Zurab Janelidze (SU). |
|
| | In his talk, Siya discussed his investigation into the theory of double fibrations, with a particular focus on defining internal sums and exploring what it means for such structures to be complete or cocomplete in a fibrational context. He also presented his work on generalising the Beck-Chevalley condition within a fibrant double category to a broader setting—specifically, to double fibrations whose base double categories admit vertical pullbacks. This generalisation plays a key role in shaping the class of double fibrations that his research targets. |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| | | | | On 30 May, April, Dr Andronikos Paliathanasis (Universidad Catolica del Norte, Chile; Stellenbosch University & NiTheCs) gave a talk titled: ‘Symmetries in Physics’. |
|
| |
|
| | |
|
|
| | | | | | | | January intake students on the Mathematical Master's stream completed the following courses in May: Survival Analysis and Markov Chains (Rafał Łochowski, SGH Warsaw School of Economics); Model Theory (Dugald Macpherson, University of Leeds); and Lie Algebras and Representation Theory (Mina Monadjem, AIMS South Africa). |
|
| | | | | |
|
| | | | The AI for Science Stream were lectured by the I-X AI in Science Team from Imperial College. |
|
| | | | | The August intake students are now busy with their research projects. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| | | | | On 28 May 2025, AIMS South Africa hosted its bi-annual Council meeting, followed by the annual meeting of the AIMS Trust. |
|
| | The Council meeting was held in a hybrid format. Attending in person were Prof. David Holgate (UWC, Chair), Emeritus Prof. Daya Reddy (UCT), Prof. Neil Turok (University of Edinburgh), and Prof. Ulrich Paquet (AIMS, ex officio). |
|
| | Remote participants included Prof. Sibusiso Moyo (SU), Prof. Grae Worster (University of Cambridge), Dr Thandi Mgwebi (NRF), and Prof. Mike Giles (University of Oxford). |
|
| |
|
| Apologies were noted from Prof. Kerstin Jordaan (UNISA) and Prof. Yacine Chitour (Université Paris-Saclay). |
|
| | Later that day, members of the AIMS Trust convened under the chairmanship of Prof. Neil Turok. The meeting was attended by Emeritus Prof. Daya Reddy, Ms Nasima Badsha, Prof. Loyiso Nongxa, and Dr Rob Adam. Presentations by AIMS Director Prof. Ulrich Paquet and COO, Mr Francois van Eyssen highlighted key achievements and outlined strategic priorities for the coming period. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| | | Teaching tip for lecturers! |
|
| | | | | Once students know something about a concept, they can develop very fixed ideas about what is possible. A creative way of jolting narrow interpretations is by challenging students to create something that sounds impossible. It only sounds impossible if it is outside current expectations. The following examples all have hidden assumptions about students' expectations. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
