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26 February 2025 | Story Martinette Brits | Photo Supplied
Prof Maxim Finkelstein, A1-rated researcher from the University of the Free State, has been selected as the 2024 - 2026 Ewha Global Fellow by Ewha Womans University.

An esteemed researcher from the University of the Free State (UFS), Prof Maxim Finkelstein, has been named a 2024 - 2026 Ewha Global Fellow (EGF) by Ewha Womans University in South Korea.

Prof Finkelstein, an A1-rated researcher from the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, received this honour in recognition of his outstanding collaboration with Prof Ji Hwan Cha from Ewha’s Department of Statistics. Prof Cha nominated him as a leading expert in his field, highlighting their long-standing partnership and significant contributions to mathematical sciences.

According to Hyang-Sook Lee, President of the Ewha Womans University, the EGF programme “encourages distinguished scholars from all over the world to actively collaborate in research and education with Ewha faculty members.”

 

The genesis of a unique collaboration

Prof Finkelstein has collaborated extensively with researchers across Europe and the United States but his partnership with Prof Cha is particularly notable. “I started working at the UFS as a Professor in 1998 when he had just obtained his PhD,” recalls Prof Finkelstein.

At the time, Prof Finkelstein was already an established researcher, while Prof Cha was in the early stages. “His letter to me about one of my articles was sent to me by regular mail to my previous working address in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and did not reach me. We eventually connected around 2006, and our collaboration gradually took shape,” he explains.

Over the years, their partnership evolved into a balanced and mutually enriching research relationship. Their joint efforts have resulted in over 120 published papers and two books, setting new standards in the Mathematical Theory of Reliability and its applications. This collaboration has significantly influenced both their careers and contributed to Prof Finkelstein’s recognition with South Africa’s highest research accolades, including an NRF A1 rating in "Mathematical Sciences" in 2021, following his A2 rating in 2015.

 

A breakthrough in stochastic modelling

One of the major achievements of Prof Finkelstein's collaboration with Ewha has been their pioneering work in stochastic modelling. Their research led to the development of the Generalised Polya Process, a novel model for understanding natural and industrial point events - such as failures in electricity generation, lightning strikes, and hurricanes. By incorporating the ‘history’ of previous events, this model offers a more precise stochastic description of real-world phenomena.

The results of their research have been widely published and have paved the way for further exploration into more complex stochastic processes. Some of their key findings were summarised in the 2018 Springer book Point Processes for Reliability Analysis.

 

Looking ahead: Future collaboration and continued innovation

Despite being in the later years of his career, Prof Finkelstein remains deeply engaged in research and committed to his partnership with Ewha. Due to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, his visits to Ewha were limited, but plans are now in place for future visits. During these visits, he will deliver lectures to students and collaborate with faculty members.

For Prof Finkelstein, continuing his nearly two-decade-long collaboration with Prof Cha remains a vital and exciting part of his academic journey. 

News Archive

UFS PhD student receives more than R5,8 million to take agricultural research to African farmers
2015-07-06

Prof Maryke Labuschagne and Bright Peprah. (Photo: Supplied)

Bright Peprah, a Plant Breeding PhD student from Ghana in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of the Free State received an award from the competitive Program for Emerging Agricultural Research Leaders (PEARL) of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for one of his projects.

From the more than 750 proposals for funding that were received from African researchers, only 19 received funding from PEARL. PEARL is an agricultural initiative by the BMGF to take agricultural research products to African farmers. It also aims at involving the youth and women in agriculture.

Peprah’s proposal to introgress beta carotene into farmer-preferred cassava landraces was part of the final 19 proposals funded. The project is being led by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)Crops Research Institute (CRI), and has the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) as international partners with Peprah as the principal investigator.


The development of nutrient-dense cassava cultivars needs attention to eliminate the ramifications of malnutrition among the poor in an inexpensive and more sustainable way.
Photo: Supplied

He received $473 000 (R5,8 million) for his project on the improvement of beta-carotene content in cassava.

Peprah decided on this project because the populations of underdeveloped and developing countries, such as Ghana, commonly suffer undernourishment and/or hidden hunger, predisposing them to diseases from micronutrients deficiencies. “Vitamin A deficiency constitutes an endemic public health problem which affects women and children largely,” he says.

“In Africa, cassava is widely consumed by the populace. Unfortunately, in these areas, malnutrition is endemic to a significant extent, partly due to the low micronutrients in this tuberous root crop, which is a major component of most household diets. It is for this reason that the development of nutrient- dense cassava cultivars needs much attention to eliminate the ramifications of malnutrition among the poor in an inexpensive and more sustainable way.

“To date we have selected top eight genotypes from germplasm collected from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) which are high in carotenoids and also poundable, a key trait to Ghanaian farmers. These eight genotypes have been planted at different locations in Ghana, and being evaluated by different stakeholders (consumers, researchers, producers, commercial farmers, processors, etc.). If found suitable, the genotypes will be released to farmers, which we hope will solve some of the micronutrient problems in Ghana.

“My projects seek to develop new cassava varieties that will have both high dry matter and beta carotene which has been reported to be negatively correlated (as one increase, the other decreases). The breeding method will be crossing varieties that are high in beta carotene with those with high dry matter, and checking the performance of the seedlings later. Developing such new varieties (yellow flesh cassava) will increase their adoption rate by Ghanaian farmers,” he said.

Prof Maryke Labuschagne, Professor in Plant Breeding in the Department Plant Sciences and Peprah’s study leader, said: “This project has the potential to alleviate vitamin A deficiency in the West African region, where this deficiency is rampant, causing blindness in many people, especially children."

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