UK-Africa Postgraduate Advanced Study Institute in Mathematical Sciences (UK-APASI)

The research consortium between, the UK, Africa and other interested partners seeks to provide innovative mathematical solutions to fundamental global problems and questions faced by the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe).

The statistics are overwhelmingly clear:

(i) The top five killer-diseases in Africa are HIV/AIDS, lower respiratory tract infections including Tuberculosis, diarrhoea diseases (linked to water borne diseases and poor sanitation), malaria and strokes;

(ii) Despite significant investments, crime activities (murder, sexual offences, assault, robbery, hijacking of cars, etc.) in Southern Africa, particularly in South Africa, continue to be of national and international concern;

(iii) Governments and National Parks across SSA are faced with significant challenges in designing efficient methods for wild-life management and conservation;

(iv) Almost 80 percent of faculty staff in Departments of Mathematics at Universities across SSA hold at most a Masters degree and in some cases, many senior faculty staff members do not possess a PhD. The figures are astonishingly depressing particularly for Historically Disadvantaged Institutions.

Our mission is to offer alternative research-led quantitative solutions to these global challenges by carrying out interdisciplinary and inter-institutionally research in mathematical sciences focusing on six key research strands:
(1) Infectious Tropical Diseases: Towards disease control policies supported by scientific evidence theory; (2) Mathematical Modelling of Biological Systems: From data to models and back; (3) Numerical Analysis and High Performance Scientific Computing; (4) Crime Modelling in Sub-Saharan Africa; (5) Mathematics for Public Policy and (6) Statistical Methods for Data Analysis, Model and Parameter Estimation. Outcomes of our programme include (i) innovative quantitative solutions based on rigorous mathematical theories, (ii) training of a new generation of young African scientists agile and competent in skills for model building, validation, interpretation, and communicating modelling results to policy makers, and (iii) influence government and non-governmental organisations through rigorously tested scientific methods and solutions.

The mode for delivery of these research activities is through one Postgraduate Advanced Study Institute in Mathematical Sciences and two intensive Workshop Series aimed at training the future leaders of Africa on the latest state-of-the-art mathematical, numerical and statistical methods that allow them to derive new models from data, carry out rigorous mathematical and numerical analysis and then to complete the full research cycle, fit the models and parameters to data by use of rigorous statistical methods. This allows the researchers to select from a wide range of models based on different biological assumptions and their mathematical translations, the best model that fits data and be able to carry out parameter estimation under these conditions.

We will partner with the Southern Africa Mathematical Sciences Association (SAMSA) and MASAMU program to deliver our research and pedagogical activities (see letters of support from both). SAMSA represents over 40 Universities across SSA and hosts an annual conference to which many of the SSA researchers are in attendance. One of the postgraduate advanced study institute and workshop will revolve around the SAMSA annual conference in order to reach a wider community beyond that supported by this proposal. The MASAMU program, funded primarily by the National Science Foundation for USA faculty staff only, will complement our research and training activities.

Our vision and motivation is to increase postgraduate capacity development and the quality of mathematics training in the Sub-Saharan Africa Universities and therefore our programme will focus on four key areas: Research, Education, Training and Collaborative Networking in Mathematical Sciences. An immediate impact is that we will increase the number of academics with Masters and PhDs in Mathematics in the ODA countries. In addition, the project will build capacity to offer postgraduate taught courses (e.g. taught Masters Program) which are not currently offered due to lack of qualified and experienced staff. Hence, this collaborative project will promote collaboration between South African academics and their counterparts in the UK with the potential to generate several impact cases through this training network: Impact cases include:

(1) Early career fellows and young faculty staff members from the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region will be trained in mathematical sciences through our Summer School, Postgraduate Advanced Study Institute and Workshop Series in mathematical sciences and their training will be put into practice through downstream training of masters and undergraduate students in mathematics when they return to their respective institutions. For example, the Department of Mathematics at the University of Limpopo in South Africa has 36 staff members of which only eight are PhD holders. Approximately 16 Staff members possess a Masters degree and 14 staff members are doing their Masters degree. A similar story at the University of Zimbabwe out of the 20 staff members in the Department of Mathematics, only 10 are Phd holders, 9 hold a Masters degree and 3 staff members are pursuing PhD studies. Therefore, this new generation of highly trained researchers will be highly sought after in Applied Mathematics in positions with their respective Universities or in government and non-governmental organisations. The expectation is that these will become the future leaders in mathematical sciences applied to real-life problems of significant importance to their countries.

(2) Ministries of Health, Law and Justice, Wildlife Management and Conservation will adopt quantitative solutions to make appropriate policies that could benefit their countries as well as the Sub-Saharan Africa region. New insights will be gained on infections disease transmissions, dealing with emergent new diseases, crime management, policing guided by mathematics, wild-life management and conservation, etc.

(3) Our research outcomes will impact knowledge transfer and exchange through international collaborations between the UK and SSA academics, pedagogical material will be made available to our African counter-parts, and algorithms and software packages will be offered to participants free of charge.

(4) The outcomes of our proposal will impact on economic growth in ODA countries (Sub-Saharan Africa region) as well as the UK economic growth. We will empower African researchers with employable and transferable skills ranging from modelling, analytical, numerical and computational skills as well as the ability to make informed policies. Employment opportunities include academic positions as well as in governmental and non-governmental organisations where their skills are most required.