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Prof Maxim Finkelstein receives SA’s first A1 rating in Probability, Statistics and Operations Research

18 February 2021 | Story ANDRE DAMONS | Photo Supplied

Prof Finkelstein_web read more edit — Prof Maxim Finkelstein, distinguished Professor at the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science at the UFS has become the only researcher with an A1-rating in South Africa (awarded by NRF) in Probability, Statistics and Operations Research.

A professor in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) has become the only researcher with an A1-rating in Probability, Statistics and Operations Research in South Africa after being awarded this prestigious rating by the National Research Foundation (NRF).

This is the second time Prof Maxim Finkelstein, the distinguished Professor at the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded with an A-rating. The first was in 2015.

The goal is to produce quality research

According to Prof Finkelstein, the rating should not be a goal as such for a researcher but should produce a quality research that is recognised by peers and that, above all, brings a real satisfaction in life. Prof Finkelstein says: “The rating is just a consequence of what one, as a researcher, has achieved in the past eight years and, actually, during the whole professional life as well. South Africa is the only country in the world that is able to perform this rigorous internationally sound rating process for individual researchers. ‘Scientifically large’ countries just cannot do it, technically.”

Prof Finkelstein’s area of expertise is the modelling of random events and quantifying probabilities of their occurrences. He explains: “For instance, in industry, people are interested in probabilities that a machine or process or mission will accomplish its task without failure or accident. In order to assess the probabilities of interest, one must have an adequate mathematical/stochastic model that should be properly developed.

“Thus, I am developing such models that can be rather advanced because they should take into account numerous factors, e.g., that the object is operating in a random environment, that its structure could change, that there can be human errors affecting the outcome, that an object interacts with other objects, etc. This is usually done in the framework of mathematical reliability theory that considers operation of technical devices.”

The only A-rating at NAS

“I am quite excited to get the A-rating for the second time, especially because it is the only A-rating in Probability, Statistics and Operations Research in South Africa. It is also the only A-rating at our Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

“The fact that it is an A1 and not A2, as previously, does not, in fact, mean too much to me. What matters really is that it is the A-category defined by the reviewers’ opinions that the applicant is a world leader in his discipline,” says Prof Finkelstein.

During his numerous visits as a research professor to the Max Planck Institute of Demographic Research in Germany, he jointly with the colleagues from this institute, were applying the developed stochastic approaches to modelling lifespans of organisms as well.

One of Prof Finkelstein’s evolving interests is in the area of healthcare engineering when, for instance, monitoring the key health parameters of a patient, some optimal cost-wise decisions can be made on preventive treatments and interventions.

“I want also to stress that, in general, international collaboration is very important for emerging and established researchers, especially in ‘remote’ South Africa, although nowadays the term ‘remote’ is obviously outdated,” says Prof Finkelstein.

He also collaborates with numerous colleagues around the globe. Apart from the visiting position in the Max Planck Institute he held for many years, Prof Finkelstein regularly visits the ITMO University in St Petersburg, Russia, and is also now establishing a Visiting Professor position at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

News Archive

Another boost for sport at the UFS

2005-10-13

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The University of the Free State (UFS) has officially appointed Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd, which has former Springbok rugby captain Morné du Plessis as managing director, to manage its Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Services (CESSS) on the Bloemfontein campus.

According to Prof Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Academic Operations, the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is another step in the implementation of the UFS’s wide-ranging sport strategy to improve sport facilities and elevate formerly marginalized sports such as soccer, hockey, netball, tennis etc.

Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is the manager of the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and coordinates and manages the national basketball high-performance programme of SA Basketball, as well as the Boxing Academy on behalf of Boxing South Africa.

“It is also actively involved with the sports plans of several tertiary institutions like that of the University of Johannesburg and the University of Stellenbosch,” said Prof Verschoor.

“Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was also appointed by the Ministry of Sport and Recreation to manage the allocation of sports codes to high-performance centres and to oversee the allocation of monies received from the National Lottery to these centres – this includes the CESSS at the UFS,” Prof Verschoor added.

In unfolding its national sports plan, the Ministry of Sport and Recreation has already identified the UFS-based CESSS as the high-performance testing centre for the national basketball teams whilst the national boxing teams are also earmarked to be trained at the UFS.

“We are glad to be associated with a company of this stature and look forward to work with them in the further development of sports at the UFS,” said Prof Verschoor.

According to Prof Verschoor, the CESSS will act as a centralised body that is responsible for the coordination and management of joint initiatives between professional service providers, research projects and KovsieSport.

“The centre will also coordinate and manage joint initiatives between various academic programmes in different academic subject fields such as sports medicine, bio kinetics, physiotherapy, dietetics, etc. ,” said Prof Verschoor.

These initiatives will help the UFS to become a centre and catalyst of sports development, to become internationally recognised in the field of exercise and sports science research and to become a centre for high quality sports performance enhancement.

Some of the objectives of the CESSS are:

To provide sports science services like to athletes, students, the general public and other stakeholders including certain national sport teams.
To provide the necessary teaching and training facilities and internship opportunities for UFS students in sports related fields of study will also be provided by the centre like human movement science.
To present skills-transfer programmes directed at the broader community like development of skills in various sporting codes.
To continue and extend the current chronic risk reversal programmes presented by the Department of Human Movement Science such as obesity management, cardiac rehabilitation and other lifestyle related conditions.

The centre was founded in 2003 and was until now managed by Dr Louis Holtzhausen, from Kovsie Health and a consultant, Dr Gary Vorster.

A contract formalizing the appointment of Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd was signed today by Prof Verschoor and Mr Morne du Plessis in the historic Main Building of the UFS Bloemfontein campus.

The manager of the centre appointed by Sports Plan (Pty) Ltd is Mr Charles Store, an alumnus of the UFS, previously employed at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town and by the SANDF at 3 Military Hospital, Bloemfontein.

Media release
Issued by: Anton Fisher
Director: Strategic Communication
072-207-8334
12 October 2005

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