IC16: Imaginary In Africa - Future Perspecitves
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Yocgo, Rosita
The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, a pan-African network of Centres of Excellence for mathematical science postgraduate training, research and public engagement is also contributing towards building the pipeline for the next generation of African scientists on the continent through diverse outreach activities which involves pupils, students, teachers, lecturers, researchers, industry, policy makers and the general public. Its collaboration with IMAGINARY and the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach is therefore one of the novel mechanisms to achieve this. The AIMS-IMAGINARY platform is aimed at stimulating interest in the mathematical sciences among diverse groups of people through the use of interactive visual and hands-on mathematical science concepts.
 Thanks to Imaginary for having us here at this conference. I'm here together with most of my colleagues from the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and we are very pleased to complete the Imaginary picture by having events in Africa. So EMS is similar to NIMS. It's called the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. It focuses on postgraduate training, research and public engagement within the mathematical sciences. It has a very ambitious plan to open 15 centers across Africa by 2013. We already have six centers operational in the countries listed there. And the vision is actually to use mathematical sciences to lead Africa's transformation. And we do this by developing a new set of postgraduate students who are able to use, understand and apply maths differently and not in the traditional manner. So our theory of change is that we believe that if sufficient investment is made in these disciplines, then Africa is on the fastest route to become self-sufficient. So what we do is we train students who already have a four years degree in any mathematical science discipline. We train them for one year and we have a research component where we have various research programs such as the research programs, we provide grants to students and we welcome the international community unlike the training program which is specific for Africans. And we also do the public engagement because we realize for EMS to be able to get the students for the training program, we need to do something to build up the capacity below. Because the number of graduates coming out from university doesn't match up the number of people whom you would want to train at a higher level. So this is where the whole public engagement idea comes in. And we do this through various means. We have a teacher's training program that's happening in South Africa and in Cameroon. And the plan is to extend it to the other EMS centers. And we also do communications via media. We also engage in discussions on panel discussions related to STEM. And we do workshops, conferences. So EMS imaginary was a natural thing that came up from this pillar. So I met Andras in 2014 but we had been speaking before then for like a year. And he had actually invited me during one of my trips in Germany to the museum in Frankfurt where I got to experience the Stan-Witch imaginary had there. It was very innovative. And I took this idea to my director at EMS South Africa and he really liked it. And interestingly, he had spent some research time at the MFO. So he thought this was a good thing for us to extend the collaboration. And we said, okay, let's do a joint event together and see how it's perceived. So our goal is really to support the popularization of mathematical sciences on the continent. And because we are Pan-African, so we try to replicate our activities across many African countries as possible. And we actually want to do this because we want to eliminate the negative fears that are associated with taking up maths and sciences at the higher level. We want to showcase the relevance of maths and science for personal development as well as for the society where people live. And we want to also show this in a beautiful way because the abstract in it scares youths and the younger ones, even the researchers. So how do we do this? We organize interactive workshops, actually very similar to what is happening here. And we also showcase exhibits. We also do road shows and at times we do science slams. But what we actually try to pull out during each of these events is we don't just want to show exhibits. We want facilitators to tell the audience what is the maths behind each of these exhibits. We also want them to be able to find real life situations which relate to each of these exhibits because it's in that manner that the population gets enticed. So that said, so far we've organized five events across four African countries. Some of them, the team from Imaginary actually were present there by themselves, like the one which happened in Morocco and some of them we did it jointly. But I mean we're starting to build this network where we can tap on each other and support events that are happening on the continent. So one of the outputs of our events has been the development of a maths block where we want to try to collect information about persons on the continent who are actually interested in promoting or popularizing maths. So from our very first event in South Africa we realized there is really no space where you can find out about who is doing, involved in the popularization of maths on the continent. So I'm going to talk more about that later in the next slide. So this block is for this and it also helps to publicize events that are happening in Africa and I think globally, Andres? Yeah? No, just in Africa. In Africa or by Africans who are outside Africa? Okay. So I have, there's another colleague, there's another participant who attended the event in South Africa and this was actually one of the workshop projects that were involved in and this is really something that came out alive from the event. It was also the first time for us to experience this type of collaborative workshops where you actually work on the project and you can actually have something tangible at the end of the event. So we really liked that and we really want to try to promote such collaborative activities. So feedback has been very positive and one of the things which people say is how can they start contributing? So this is where there is still some gap because I facilitated the event in terms of planning and identifying speakers but I'm not a mathematician so we need like a community of mathematics experts who can really drive this strongly in Africa. We've received support from various organizations of which we are very grateful for all the events we've planned. So coming back on what I said, like in terms of me not being a mathematician, it was just due to my interest that I thought this could be important. So we are now moving towards a direction where we want to kind of concretize or institutionalize this kind of an idea within Africa so that it doesn't get lost and we're putting together a sort of strategic initiatives. Africa is big so for each country you go you face new challenges. The requirements are new and so the whole dynamic changes. So but we want to be able to first build some really good concrete sustainable evidence which can now be easily replicated. So while we continue to plan various events, one of the new things we want to do is to support national math and science days in different African countries through exhibition. The first of this already took place when Antonia visited jointly with Ames Tanzania. They supported the Pi Day event which is a national day event in Tanzania. And now we want to work also with South Africa to support the National Science Week events which happened during the month of August in South Africa. So where do I close here? Okay. Then our next big thing is to have a concrete museum where we can have math and science exhibitions. And I have my colleague here, Mark. He's running a workshop so I would like everybody to pop in and listen to what they are discussing. And he is the director of our AEM Center in Tanzania. So Tanzania has a natural cultural heritage and this is one of the ideas he would like to place at the AEM centers in Tanzania. So our challenges. As I spoke before, the maths communication experts on the continent, I guess they do exist but they are difficult to find. So each year we have to rely heavily on the non-African community to help us with topics and with workshop ideas to be able to run a session. We would like to get the local community strongly involved but this is also challenging because there's a huge reliance on us to fund everything for them to come and it just inflates the budget which is limited. AEMS is an NGO so we also rely on donor funding and at times this funding is included in budgets or it's depleted. So we have a lot of issues which we are still working around and to inform the long-term sustainability of the initiative. So how can we work together? Definitely a lot of institutions have projects which they do in Africa to support such initiatives so do invite us to contribute to us writing proposals to look for funds together to implement such projects in Africa. You're welcome to sign up to be a speaker or facilitator for workshops. We can discuss funding requirements, how much we can fund what are the requirements, all of this can be done. We also require more and more exhibits to showcase and also sharing resources, online resources that are available which we can always share with the participants. So this is Andrast in Senegal last year enjoying Senegal and escaping from the winter in Germany. So I'd like to use this opportunity to announce our next event which is happening in Cameroon in December. The period is from the 4th to the 10th of December. We're still going to fix the three or four specific dates that will happen. So Boya is found here. It's actually close to the beach so it's a nice place to come to and have a nice holiday in December. And the nearest airport is in Douala so you'd naturally travel and come to the AEM Center. So this is the AEM Center building. The students live in the building so it's a very interactive environment. You get to meet students from about 14 African countries that study there as well as a whole suite of visiting lecturers. So yeah, as I said, you're welcome to come to me or to any of my colleagues to talk to us about workshops, ideas and exhibitions or various ways in which we can collaborate, especially for our upcoming event in Cameroon. So in the next two weeks or so we are going to load the event on the AMC imaginary platform where we always advertise our events. So yeah, thank you very much for listening. Thank you.
 Thanks to Imaginary for having us here at this conference.  I'm here together with most of my colleagues from the African Institute for Mathematical  Sciences and we are very pleased to complete the Imaginary picture by having events in  Africa.  So EMS is similar to NIMS.  It's called the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences.  It focuses on postgraduate training, research and public engagement within the mathematical  sciences.  It has a very ambitious plan to open 15 centers across Africa by 2013.  We already have six centers operational in the countries listed there.  And the vision is actually to use mathematical sciences to lead Africa's transformation.  And we do this by developing a new set of postgraduate students who are able to use,  understand and apply maths differently and not in the traditional manner.  So our theory of change is that we believe that if sufficient investment is made in these  disciplines, then Africa is on the fastest route to become self-sufficient.  So what we do is we train students who already have a four years degree in any mathematical  science discipline.  We train them for one year and we have a research component where we have various research programs  such as the research programs, we provide grants to students and we welcome the international  community unlike the training program which is specific for Africans.  And we also do the public engagement because we realize for EMS to be able to get the students  for the training program, we need to do something to build up the capacity below.  Because the number of graduates coming out from university doesn't match up the number  of people whom you would want to train at a higher level.  So this is where the whole public engagement idea comes in.  And we do this through various means.  We have a teacher's training program that's happening in South Africa and in Cameroon.  And the plan is to extend it to the other EMS centers.  And we also do communications via media.  We also engage in discussions on panel discussions related to STEM.  And we do workshops, conferences.  So EMS imaginary was a natural thing that came up from this pillar.  So I met Andras in 2014 but we had been speaking before then for like a year.  And he had actually invited me during one of my trips in Germany to the museum in Frankfurt  where I got to experience the Stan-Witch imaginary had there.  It was very innovative.  And I took this idea to my director at EMS South Africa and he really liked it.  And interestingly, he had spent some research time at the MFO.  So he thought this was a good thing for us to extend the collaboration.  And we said, okay, let's do a joint event together and see how it's perceived.  So our goal is really to support the popularization of mathematical sciences on the continent.  And because we are Pan-African, so we try to replicate our activities across many African  countries as possible.  And we actually want to do this because we want to eliminate the negative fears that  are associated with taking up maths and sciences at the higher level.  We want to showcase the relevance of maths and science for personal development as well  as for the society where people live.  And we want to also show this in a beautiful way because the abstract in it scares youths  and the younger ones, even the researchers.  So how do we do this?  We organize interactive workshops, actually very similar to what is happening here.  And we also showcase exhibits.  We also do road shows and at times we do science slams.  But what we actually try to pull out during each of these events is we don't just want  to show exhibits.  We want facilitators to tell the audience what is the maths behind each of these exhibits.  We also want them to be able to find real life situations which relate to each of these  exhibits because it's in that manner that the population gets enticed.  So that said, so far we've organized five events across four African countries.  Some of them, the team from Imaginary actually were present there by themselves, like the  one which happened in Morocco and some of them we did it jointly.  But I mean we're starting to build this network where we can tap on each other and support  events that are happening on the continent.  So one of the outputs of our events has been the development of a maths block where we  want to try to collect information about persons on the continent who are actually interested  in promoting or popularizing maths.  So from our very first event in South Africa we realized there is really no space where  you can find out about who is doing, involved in the popularization of maths on the continent.  So I'm going to talk more about that later in the next slide.  So this block is for this and it also helps to publicize events that are happening in  Africa and I think globally, Andres?  Yeah?  No, just in Africa.  In Africa or by Africans who are outside Africa?  Okay.  So I have, there's another colleague, there's another participant who attended the event  in South Africa and this was actually one of the workshop projects that were involved  in and this is really something that came out alive from the event.  It was also the first time for us to experience this type of collaborative workshops where  you actually work on the project and you can actually have something tangible at the end  of the event.  So we really liked that and we really want to try to promote such collaborative activities.  So feedback has been very positive and one of the things which people say is how can  they start contributing?  So this is where there is still some gap because I facilitated the event in terms of planning  and identifying speakers but I'm not a mathematician so we need like a community of mathematics  experts who can really drive this strongly in Africa.  We've received support from various organizations of which we are very grateful for all the  events we've planned.  So coming back on what I said, like in terms of me not being a mathematician, it was just  due to my interest that I thought this could be important.  So we are now moving towards a direction where we want to kind of concretize or institutionalize  this kind of an idea within Africa so that it doesn't get lost and we're putting together  a sort of strategic initiatives.  Africa is big so for each country you go you face new challenges.  The requirements are new and so the whole dynamic changes.  So but we want to be able to first build some really good concrete sustainable evidence  which can now be easily replicated.  So while we continue to plan various events, one of the new things we want to do is to  support national math and science days in different African countries through exhibition.  The first of this already took place when Antonia visited jointly with Ames Tanzania.  They supported the Pi Day event which is a national day event in Tanzania.  And now we want to work also with South Africa to support the National Science Week events  which happened during the month of August in South Africa.  So where do I close here?  Okay.  Then our next big thing is to have a concrete museum where we can have math and science  exhibitions.  And I have my colleague here, Mark.  He's running a workshop so I would like everybody to pop in and listen to what they are discussing.  And he is the director of our AEM Center in Tanzania.  So Tanzania has a natural cultural heritage and this is one of the ideas he would like  to place at the AEM centers in Tanzania.  So our challenges.  As I spoke before, the maths communication experts on the continent, I guess they do  exist but they are difficult to find.  So each year we have to rely heavily on the non-African community to help us with topics  and with workshop ideas to be able to run a session.  We would like to get the local community strongly involved but this is also challenging  because there's a huge reliance on us to fund everything for them to come and it just inflates  the budget which is limited.  AEMS is an NGO so we also rely on donor funding and at times this funding is included in budgets  or it's depleted.  So we have a lot of issues which we are still working around and to inform the long-term  sustainability of the initiative.  So how can we work together?  Definitely a lot of institutions have projects which they do in Africa to support such initiatives  so do invite us to contribute to us writing proposals to look for funds together to implement  such projects in Africa.  You're welcome to sign up to be a speaker or facilitator for workshops.  We can discuss funding requirements, how much we can fund what are the requirements, all  of this can be done.  We also require more and more exhibits to showcase and also sharing resources, online  resources that are available which we can always share with the participants.  So this is Andrast in Senegal last year enjoying Senegal and escaping from the winter in Germany.  So I'd like to use this opportunity to announce our next event which is happening in Cameroon  in December.  The period is from the 4th to the 10th of December.  We're still going to fix the three or four specific dates that will happen.  So Boya is found here.  It's actually close to the beach so it's a nice place to come to and have a nice holiday  in December.  And the nearest airport is in Douala so you'd naturally travel and come to the AEM Center.  So this is the AEM Center building.  The students live in the building so it's a very interactive environment.  You get to meet students from about 14 African countries that study there as well as a whole  suite of visiting lecturers.  So yeah, as I said, you're welcome to come to me or to any of my colleagues to talk to  us about workshops, ideas and exhibitions or various ways in which we can collaborate,  especially for our upcoming event in Cameroon.  So in the next two weeks or so we are going to load the event on the AMC imaginary platform  where we always advertise our events.  So yeah, thank you very much for listening.  Thank you.
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