The Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, launched the new Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) today, 1 April. The new CoEs bring to 14 the total number of centres established since 2004 by the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation (NRF).
The CoEs take the lead in researching various areas of national interest and are designed to accelerate the delivery of appropriate human resources and knowledge capacity, as well as to enhance the international competitiveness of South African research in pursuit of research excellence and capacity development.
Delivering the keynote address, Minister Hanekom said, "The DST-NRF Centre of Excellence Programme is one of several instruments that are in place to bolster our innovation system. On the one hand, these centres enable us to capitalise on our country's natural advantages, such as large platinum deposits, a clear view of the southern skies, and an incomparably rich array of paleontological fossils. On the other hand, the centres assist in identifying our disciplinary weaknesses or socio-economic threats, and then set about addressing them."
The Minister further said, "Mathematics is the spinal cord of science, engineering and technology development and, as such, it is critical to South Africa's National System of Innovation, and to our future as a competitive, knowledge-based economy. This is most obviously the case, perhaps, in respect of applied and computational mathematics, but these cannot be divorced from pure mathematics; thus it is effectively true of mathematics overall. This is why the National Development Plan places such importance on improving mathematics education from primary school through university, and why we, and the rest of the world for that matter, need increasing numbers of doctorates in mathematics, among other disciplines."
The Director of the CoE in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Prof. Fazal Mahomed, of the School of Computational and Applied Mathematics at Wits, said: "We always aspired to a CoE since the inception of DECMA (Centre for Differential Equations, Continuum Mechanics and Applications) and we wish to be as inclusive as possible. Our network has grown and we want to sign more MoUs. This CoE gives us an opportunity to push the forefront of research and open up new areas of research."
Prof. Ebrahim Momoniat, Head of the School of Computational and Applied Mathematics at Wits, explained the focus of the CoE: "The main research focus of the centre will be under the theme "Mathematics of the Earth and Environment". The main theme is split into two further themes reflecting the pure and applied nature of mathematics. The two themes we have identified are "Mathematical Paradigms for Earth and Environment" and "Mathematical, Statistical and Computational Modelling of the Earth and Environment". It is under these two themes that the centre will bring together the exiting research excellence that exists in universities, research entities and other CoEs to make a major contribution to the National Development Plan, the training of the next generation of scientists and the development of a knowledge-based economy."
The CEO of the NRF, Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, had this to say about the launch of the CoE: "The NRF is extremely excited about the "birth" of this new CoE, with the launch of the Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. This particular CoE adds to the highly successful cohort of 10 other DST-NRF CoEs that have been established since 2004. We look forward to the outcomes that this CoE will produce in knowledge advancement for the country, especially with the challenges that we face in mathematics education. We expect to see considerable socio-economic benefits emanating from the centre in future."
The DST/NRF CoE in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences brings to four the number of CoEs hosted by Wits. The other three are the CoE in Strong Materials, the CoE in Paleosciences, and the CoE in Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, co-hosted with the University of Stellenbosch and the University of Cape Town.
According to the report: Review of Mathematical Sciences Research at South African Higher Education Institutions (International Review Panel Report: 2008), research in the mathematical sciences in South Africa suffers from isolation at many levels. The International Review Panel Report asserts that the inward, institution-oriented approach to research in the mathematical sciences needs to be transformed into a national approach.
The new CoE in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences will devote a considerable share of its energy to earth and environmental sciences, bringing much-needed specialised attention to what are some of the most pressing issues of our time. The centre promises to afford us a better understanding of complex, dynamic systems associated with the earth and environmental sciences, and, perhaps more importantly, a better understanding of how to develop a better understanding of such complex systems.
The centre will also contribute directly and indirectly to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) initiative, from which we anticipate data analysis challenges unlike anything humankind has seen before. It is expected that the volume of data generated by the SKA each day will be of the same order of magnitude as what presently exists throughout the length and breadth of the Internet. Accumulating an ever larger store of data in the hopes of analysing it later is at best a partial answer; more fundamentally, we need to develop methods that will help to assimilate the information rapidly and efficiently in real time, and we expect to see the new Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the coalface of this exciting challenge.
South Africa's CoEs are training the next generation of South Africans to have the skills and knowledge that will make South Africa a leading knowledge-based economy. This intervention also supports the National Development Plan, which calls for an ambitious expansion of the South African science and technology system.
Enquiries:
Department of Science and Technology
David Mandaha
E-mail: david.mandaha@dst.gov.za
Cell: 072 126 8910
National Research Foundation:
Thabiso Nkone
E-mail: thabiso.nkone@nrf.ac.za
Cell: 083 494 2322
University of the Witwatersrand:
Kanina Foss
E-mail: kanina.foss@wits.ac.za
Cell: 082 052 0939
