Presented during the AOSP high-level meeting on 3-4 Sept. 2018, Pretoria, South Africa.

1. AIMS Ecosystem
of Transformation
Prof. Barry Green
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
E X C E L L E N C E • R E S P E C T • PAN - AF R I C A N I S M • I N T E G R I T Y

2. The Value Proposition
AIMS seeks to contribute to the
socio-economic transformation of
Africa through innovative scientific
training; technical advances and
breakthrough discoveries; and
strategic foresight and innovative
policy design.

3. AIMS Impact: Centres of Excellence
6 Centres
1682 alumni from
43 countries of which
32% are women
The AIMS Centre of Excellence offers the flagship,
one-year structured Master’s programme in
Mathematical Sciences, which immerses students in a
24-hour learning environment that is collaborative,
problems-based, independent and focused on STEM
fields which address Africa’s socio-economicchallenges.
Lecturers are drawn from the best international
institutions and are recognized experts in their fields,
including field medallists. Students are provided a
broad training in mathematical sciences and given the
opportunity to develop depth in an area of interest
during the research project phase.

4. AIMS Impact: Centres of Excellence

5. Prof. Peter Grindrod:
Data Analytics
Dr Babette Döbrich:
Introduction to
Quantum Physics
Prof. Vaughan Jones, Fields
Medallist: Knot Theory Prof. Cedric Villani,
Fields Medallist
Dr Madeleine Cule, Google:
Statistics and Probability
Prof. Stephane Ouvry:
Introduction to Random
Systems, Information Theory,
and related topics
Ms Sagree Pillay, AIMSSEC
alumnus and lecturer
Prof. Sigrid Boege:
Mathematical Problem Solving
Prof. Montaz Ali:
Discrete Optimization in
Big Data
Prof. Kinvi Kangni:
Harmonic Analysis
Prof. David Bekolle:
Real and Complex analysis
Dr Angelina Lutambi:
Mathematical Epidemiology
of Infectious diseases
World-class international and local lecturers

6. AIMS Impact: AIMS Industry Initiative
The AIMS Industry Initiative seeks to maximize the opportunities and potential for mathematical
sciences to contribute to African economies through human capital, knowledge transfer and applied
research for scientific and technological excellence. The initiative links mathematical sciences to the
needs of industry as we focus on filling the skills gap in Africa through strategic partnerships with
relevant stakeholders.
• Co-operative Master’s Programme in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation, 89 students since
2016 (68 in Senegal, 11 in Cameroon, 10 in Rwanda)
• AIMS-ESMT Industry Immersion Program hosted in South Africa, 25 students completed in 2017, 25
currently doing the program in 2018.
• 220 internships have been facilitated since 2013 for both co-op students and alumni
• Banking sector largest internship provider
• In March 2018, begun process to create AIMS Industry Affiliation Program

7. AIMS Impact: AIMS Industry Initiative
What's next:
• Mathematical Sciences for Climate Change Internship Program - 10 Internship by July
2018 and 104 Internship by 2022
• AIMS – GSK Statistical Non-Communicable Diseases Internship Program, 12
internships will be provided over 3 years
• 2018-2020: Diversifying pool of internship providers

8. AIMS Impact: AIMS Graduates
Dr Tendai Mugwagwa
Infectious disease modeller for
Public Health England (PHE) and
a visiting Research fellow at
Imperial College, London
Dr Martial Loth Ndeffo Mbah
researcher in epidemiology at the
Yale School of Public Health
Ms Tabitha Gathoni Mundia
Associate Risk Officer, International
Finance Corporation
AIMS is making a contribution to global challenges
Ms Alice Ikuzwe, PhD student in
Mechanical Engineering specialising
in solar energy systems and
renewable energy at the University
of Pretoria, South Africa
Ms Clarisse Uwiseye
Medical Physics Research, CFE Centre Grenoble, France
Mr Jonathan Kwame Doku
Implementations Officer,Itemate
Solutions, Ghana
Dr Hind Ahmed
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
(nanotechnology, applied physics
and engineering), Trinity College,
Dublin, Ireland
Dr Franck Kalala Mutombo
Head of Research of the Science Faculty,
University of Lubumbashi and Academic
Director, AIMS Senegal.
Dr Prosper Ngabonziza
Postdoctoral Research Fellow,
Max Planck Institute For Solid State
Research, Germany
Dr Chika Yinka-Banjo
University of Lagos, Department of
Computer Sciences expertise in
Artificial Intelligence
Dr Guy Blaise Dongmo
Nuclear Engineering,
Eskom, South Africa

9. AIMS Impact: AIMS Research
The vision of the Research at AIMS, which is being established, is to serve as a catalyst of human
progress in Africa and beyond, through knowledge creation, translation (innovation), and dissemination.
The Research Centres will provide an intellectual space for some of Africa’s and the world’s brightest
minds, including Chairs, to conduct world-class research that advances the understanding of nature and
of mathematics. Knowledge translation will be facilitated through innovation labs set up inside and
outside the Centre’s premises.
• Current 90 researchers across AIMS Network
– 21 Researchers (8 female)
– 40 PhD students (13 female)
– 8 postdocs (1 female)
– 17 resident researchers (5 female)
– 7 chairs (1 female)
• 350 publications published as of 2017
• 100 conferences as of 2017
• 340 visiting researchers as of 2017
• 3 Women in Climate Science Fellowship awarded May 2018
• 1 Innovation lab running in Ghana

10. Dr Gaston Mazandu,
IDRC Joint Career Development Chair
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
(AIMS South Africa and AIMS Ghana)
Dr Wilfred Ndifon,
Director of Research (AIMS-NEI) and
Resident Researcher (AIMS South Africa)
Dr Yabebal Fantaye,
ARETÉ Junior Research Chair in Applied
Statistical Methods, Cosmology
and Big Data (AIMS South Africa)
Dr Bubacarr Bah,
German Research Chair Specialisation:
Data Science (AIMS South Africa)
Dr Olivier Menoukeu Pamen,
German Research Chair
Specialisation: Stochastic Differential
Equations, Malliavin Calculus, Financial
Mathematics (AIMS Ghana)
Prof. Mouhamed Fall,
German Research Chair Specialisation: Geometric
Partial Differential Equations (AIMS Senegal)
Prof. Gisele Mophou,
German Research Chair Specialisation:
Control Theory and Calculus of
Variations (AIMS Cameroon)
Research: AIMS Researchers
Prof. Bruce Bassett,
Resident Researcher, Head of the
Cosmology Group (AIMS South Africa)
Prof. Cang Hui,
South African Research Chair in
Mathematical and Theoretical Physical
Biosciences (AIMS South Africa)
Prof. Ian Durbach,
Resident Researcher, Statistics,
Multi-Criteria, Optimisation
(AIMS South Africa)
Dr Rejoyce Gavhi-Molefe,
Resident Research (AIMS South Africa)
Dr Michelle Lochner,
Resident Research, Statistics and Machine
Learning applied to Astronomy and
Cosmology (AIMS South Africa)
Dr Simukai Utete,
Resident Research, Robotics (AIMS South
Africa)
Dr Prince Osei, Quantum Leap Africa
Research Centre (Rwanda)

11. AIMS Impact: AIMS Research
What's next:
• Recruit 3 Chairs in Climate Science in Rwanda, at least 1 female
• Recruitment of two Data Science Chairs Funded by the Carnegie Corporation
• Recruitment ongoing for Chairs, postdocs, PhD students
• Award of 5 new German Research Chairs at AIMS, through the Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation
• Award 5 Climate Change Research Fellowships to female researchers
• Award 4 small research grants in Climate Change Science

12. AIMS Impact: Quantum Leap Africa
QLA is a centre of scientific research excellence at the leading edge of information
science and technology. The aim of the centre is to rapidly position Africa as a
leader in solving critical problems of development through cutting-edge research
in data science, smart systems engineering and the emerging area of quantum
information science and technology, a new frontier which many believe will drive
the next global super cycle. The goal is to prepare Africa for the upcoming global
transition to quantum technologies, unlock Africa’s scientific potential, and foster
major discovery.
• African Master's in Machine Intelligence launched at AIMS Rwanda in
September 2018
• HIRAX Outrigger to be set up in Rwanda.

13. The Mathematics and Science Teachers Training Program in Rwanda is a five-year
program (2018 to 2022) targeting in-service and pre-service teachers. The program is
a collaborative effort between AIMS, University of Rwanda – College of Education
(URCE) and Rwanda Education Board (REB) in close partnership with MasterCard
Foundation Secondary Education Teachers Initiative (SETI) program.
• More than 1835 teachers have
completed the 3-month Mathematical
Thinking course
• Over 200 teachers, subject advisers
and field trainers graduated from the
2-year Advanced Certificate in
Education (ACE)
• Awarded UNESCO-Hamdan Bin Rashid
Al-Maktoum Prize for Outstanding
Practice and Performance in
Enhancing the Effectiveness of
Teachers in 2012
AIMS Impact: Teacher Training Programs
• 84 master trainers trained
• 149 in-service teachers trained
• 376 pre-service teachers trained
• More than 30,000 students impacted
• Plans in place to train 1772 in-service,
824 pre-service teachers = impacting
1 million secondary school students
• 53 master trainers trained in Math
and Science
• 119 secondary school teachers and
school subject leaders trained
• Equip 30 schools piloting smart
classrooms
• Plans to train 1448 school subject
leaders from 744 schools
• Train over 3000 math and science
teachers on gender sensitive
pedagogy = improve performance of
200,000 girls and boys at secondary
school

14. AIMS Impact: Teacher Training
What's next:
• In Cameroon, Training 1772 in-service, 824 pre-service teachers = impacting
1 million secondary school students
• In Rwanda:
• Equip 30 schools piloting smart classrooms
• Train 1448 school subject leaders for math and science from 744 schools
• Train over 3000 math and science teachers on gender sensitive pedagogy =
improve performance of 200,000 girls and boys at secondary school
• In South Africa, AIMS South Africa and ASSAf will host the CESAME (Centre for
Education in Science for Africa the Mediterranean and Europe) within the next two
years in collaboration with the foundation Foundation La main à la pâte in France.
The CESAME will provide teacher training on inquiry based learning for science and
mathematics in collaboration with like-minded institutions

15. NEF is a platform where topics are addressed strategically and holistically, with
opportunities for cross fertilization. The forum includes the civil society as well as policy
makers, scientists and industry leaders. The NEF has four pillars: The Global Gatherings,
Policy Work, the Platform and the Community of Scientists. It also has two cross cutting
commitments: to scientific excellence which speaks to both research and education and to
gender equity.
• 1st Global Gathering held in 2016 in Dakar, Senegal
• 2nd edition held in Kigali, Rwanda in 2018
• Over 1500 participants
• Over 90 countries
• Over 75 institution
• Launched Scientific African journal to
showcase African research globally in
partnership with Elseiver
AIMS Impact: Next Einstein Forum

16. AIMS Impact: Next Einstein Forum
What's next:
• Africa Science Week in 33 countries in September and October 2018
• Annual Gathering of the NEF Community of Scientists and Scientific Programme
Committee: March 2019
• NEF Africa Science and Innovation Index – unofficial first edition March 2019
• NEF Global Gathering 2020: March 2020 in Kenya

17. Questions & Answers