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UFS hosts 64th Annual Congress of South African Mathematical Society

30 November 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

JHM Photo_web read more — Prof Johan Meyer, Senior Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, says he is looking forward to learning from others in the field during this collaboration.

What do trees, black holes, earthquakes, and time structures have in common?

The answer to this question is that these, in one way or the other, form the focus of some of the abstracts delivered during the Annual Congress of the South African Mathematical Society. The society has as its main objective the advancement of mathematics in South Africa.

The Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Free State (UFS), in conjunction with the South African Mathematical Society (SAMS 2021), is hosting the 64th Annual Congress of the society this week (29 November to 1 December 2021).

Prof Johan Meyer, Senior Professor in the department, says the congress, which is being conducted online, is focusing on all aspects of mathematics research, including history and teaching.

Learning from others in the field

The congress, which aims to share the latest research results in mathematics, will be attended by staff and students from universities across South Africa as well as abroad. “Anyone from the public is, of course, welcome to attend or even share their results if they are also involved in mathematics research,” adds Prof Meyer.

He says that he is looking forward to learning from others in the field during this collaboration.

The congress will include discussions on more than 120 abstracts, covering category theory, algebra, topology, logic; functional analysis and operator theory; finite groups and combinatorial structures; graph theory and combinatorics; lie symmetries and nonlinear differential equations; and applied and numerical mathematics.

Array of interesting topics presented

“It is important in many areas of science and engineering to predict and to simulate rare, random events, the occurrence of which may have negative or even catastrophic consequences. Examples include internet server overflows, mechanical breakdowns, floods, and financial crashes. Rare events can also have a positive effect, triggering for example chemical reactions or driving genetic evolution via random mutations.” Prof Hugo Touchette from Stellenbosch University will be shedding some light on this interesting topic in his presentation on Predicting and simulating rare events.

Prof Jeandrew Brink, Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the UFS, is presenting a plenary session on the topic Determining the geometry of strong field space-times in spite of tacitly assuming the answer during every measurement. In South Africa, state-of-the art pulsar timing data from the MeerKAT telescope will make a considerable contribution to conducting GR orbital tests. Prof Brink comments on how pulsar timing tests differ from tests using gravitational wave detectors, as well as what we can learn from the framework already employed to perform pulsar timing measurements.

News Archive

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative

2006-05-10

At the conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue were from the left Dr Aldo Stroebel (senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate), Dr Edith Vries (acting Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Development Trust) and Prof Frans Swanepoel (Director: UFS Research Development Directorate).

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative

Two staff members of the University of the Free State (UFS) have been appointed as members of the advisory board of the national programme for the creation of small enterprises and jobs in the second economy. This programme forms part of government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGI-SA).

Prof Frans Swanepoel, Director of the UFS Research Development Directorate and Dr Aldo Stroebel, senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate, are working with a team of experts from the UFS on a draft implementation strategy for the national programme. Both Prof Swanepoel and Dr Stroebel are also associated to the UFS Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.

“The strategy is being developed in collaboration with institutions like the Independent Development Trust, the Department of Agriculture, the National Development Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry,” says Prof Swanepoel.

The other team members of the UFS are Prof Basie Wessels, Director of the Mangaung-University Community Partnership Programme (MUCPP) and Mr Benedict Mokoena, project manager at the MUCPP.

Dr Stroebel was also member of the organising committee of a conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue that was recently presented in Johannesburg. The conference was attended by more than 400 delegates from government departments, higher-education institutions and civil society, including Dr Kobus Laubscher, member of the UFS Council.

The conference was facilitated by Ms Vuyo Mahlati, previously from the WK Kellogg Foundation’s Africa programme and opened by Ms Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs.

“The colloquium formed the basis of an induction workshop during which a group of 150 individuals (50 teams of three) from all nine provinces, identified to initiate the implementation of the national programme, was trained and orientated towards an induction manual in collaboration with Hand-in-Hand, an Indian counterpart,” says Prof Swanepoel.

Dr Stroebel and Mr Benedict Mokoena formed part of the team to conceptualise and finalise this training manual. The induction training includes a case study of a successful community self-help partnership model, namely the MUCPP at the UFS. Prof Wessels and Mr Mokoena are both playing a leading role in the further development of subsequent training initiatives throughout South Africa, in partnership with the relevant provincial departments.

“The involvement of the UFS in the programme is a compliment to us. It reflects the value government sees in the use of academics and experts in the management of the ASGI-SA initiative. It is also an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa and in the transformation and change that is taking place in our country,” says Prof Swanepoel.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
10 May 2006

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