Category: Uncategorized

Memorandum of Understanding between CoE-MaSS, SAMF, and NGA(MaSS)

The National Graduate Academy for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (NGA(MaSS)), hosted by the University of Pretoria, has entered into a collaboration agreement with the Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (CoE-MaSS), hosted by the University of the Witwatersrand, and the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF). For more information, kindly read the attached communique.

Dear friends and colleagues,

It is our pleasure to announce the Pan-African STM Cinema Competition in science communication!   

What is it?

PASTMCC is a competition in science communication where entrants submit short explainer videos in science, tech, or math.  Videos should be < 6 min long.

What is the purpose?

To learn some science while promoting talented African researchers and students

What are the prizes?

Multiple 1,000 euro prizes are available.

What is the deadline?

30th October, 2024.

Who is supporting the competition?

This competition is sponsored by Humboldt-Universität, and supported by AIMS South Africa and AIMS Senegal.  

How can I help?

Can you please help us by circulating the attached poster, instructions, and referee form to anyone you think may be interested?

To instructors and university administrators:  could you please circulate these documents in your departmental email lists?  Could you please print and display the poster in a visible location where researchers and students will find it?  We would be sincerely grateful for your help.

With best wishes,
PASTMCC
pastmcc2024@gmail.com
https://www.pastmcc.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559973397512

Kindly find some important information for SAMS members from the Committee on Electronic Information and Communication (CEIC) of the IMU available here.

Communication from the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM)

If SAMS members are interested in any of the following opportunities, please contact the SAMS President (president@sams.ac.za) by 24 April 2024.

Pre-bids ICIAM 2031:

Following current rules, the online 2024 ICIAM Board meeting will be the place to present and discuss the pre-bids for ICIAM 2031. Only pre-bids approved and selected by the Board will be allowed to present a complete bid, to be discussed in the 2025 Board meeting, where the final decision will be made about who will organize ICIAM 2031. If your society plans to bid, please read the following document (https://iciam.org/news/24/1/13/call-pre-bids-hosting-and-organising-iciam-2031-congress) describing how to prepare a bid. Note that in a pre-bid, details have to be given to the Board about location, organizing group, some plans about financial issues, the scientific program committee (SPC), etc., but the pre-bid document does not need to contain the precise and complete information that a final bid contains.

As written in the rules (see website), pre-bids should be sent to the president (president@iciam.org) no later than April 30, 2024, and it is possible to submit the document by email. 

Nominations for ICIAM officer-at-large:

Based on the decisions made at the 2022 Board meeting, ICIAM will elect two more Officers-at-Large at our next board meeting, which will be held online on June 17, 2024. The term in office is 4 years and is renewable once. Remember that, at the 2023 Board meeting in Tokyo, the Board already elected two additional Officers-at-Large. With the additional two Officers-at-Large being elected at the June meeting, we will have a total of 6 Officers-at-Large (besides the President, Past President, Secretary and Treasurer), as decided in 2022. I am therefore asking you to nominate candidates for the position of Officer-at-Large (see https://iciam.org/iciam-officers for a list of current officers).

The duties of an ICIAM Officer-at-Large include attendance of the monthly online meetings of the officers, as well as a possible face-to-face meeting of the officers and the annual Board meeting (online in even years). ICIAM has funds to cover travel expenses, in case they are needed. In addition, it is expected that the Officer-at-Large actively contributes to ICIAM business, e.g. by participating in one of our committees, see https://iciam.org/iciam-commitees, and other tasks defined in the meetings of the officers. Diversity and geographical spread are important criteria, besides that we encourage nominations of candidates with technical skills in maintaining websites and/or experience in managing social media.

Nominations by member societies should be sent to president@iciam.org and secretary@iciam.org by April 30, 2024.

ICIAM Conference Support for Applied and Industrial Mathematics in Developing Countries:

The International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) has adopted the policy that in non-Congress years it will give support to existing conferences (typically to three conferences per year), with the support used to fund a number of ICIAM Fellowships for participants from developing countries and regions.

The following principles will govern this support:

1. Applications should be submitted a year in advance by email (secretary@iciam.org) to the ICIAM Secretary. There is no prescribed form for the application. Applicants should give details of the conference, the organizing body, and the plans for the use of ICIAM funds (including the plans for support through ICIAM Fellowships).
2. Each year there will be two rolling deadlines on 30 April and 31 October each year. The decision on which conferences to support, if any, will be made by the ICIAM Officers within one month of each of the deadlines. The Officers’ decision will be final.
3. The level of support will be up to USD 3,500 per conference: a proportion of these funds is normally paid upfront when the application has been approved, and the remaining funds are paid after the conference has taken place and the report has been received and approved by the ICIAM Officers.
4. The ICIAM funds are expected to be used to fund a number of ICIAM Fellowships for selected delegates from underdeveloped countries and regions.
5. The selection of the ICIAM Fellowship recipients and the determination of their level of support will be the responsibility of the conference organizers.
6. The existence of the ICIAM Fellowships should be advertised under that name on the conference web site, and the support of ICIAM acknowledged in an appropriate way on that web site and in printed materials for the conference.
7. Within six months of the end of the Conference a report should be submitted to the ICIAM Secretary, secretary@iciam.org. The report should briefly describe the scientific achievements of the conference, list the recipients of the ICIAM Fellowships and where they travelled from, and indicate the funds expended through each ICIAM Fellowship.
8. Unexpended funds must be returned to the ICIAM Treasurer.
9. Other things being equal, preference will be given to conferences held in developing countries.

Please send proposals for ICIAM conference support to the secretary (secretary@iciam.org) by no later than April 30, 2024.

Quaestiones Mathematicae: Open access publishing agreement

Quaestiones Mathematicae is part of the Read & Publish Transformative Open Access agreement that was made recently between Taylor & Francis and the consortium of Southern African institutions that are united in SANLiC, which included nearly all South African Universities (see the list here). The arrangement is for three years, and applies to papers with original research published in 2024, 2025 or 2026, for which the corresponding author is associated with one of the member institutions of SANLiC. For qualifying papers that have been published in 2024 already, please contact a library representative from your institution, to arrange that your paper will be made available in open access format.

For the announcement made by SANLiC, including further details on the arrangement, please see:

https://sanlic.ac.za/south-african-national-library-consortium-signs-a-groundbreaking-transformational-agreement-with-taylor-francis

If you publish a paper in Quaestiones Mathematicae that qualifies for the arrangement, or have published one already in 2024, please make sure it will be published in open access format. This will greatly enhance the accessibility of your work.

Special issue of Quaestiones Mathematicae in honour of Horst Herrlich

It is a great pleasure to announce the appearance of a special issue of Quaestiones Mathematicae in honour of Horst Herrlich, who has been on the editorial board of the journal from the first volume in 1976 till his passing in 2015:

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tqma20/46/sup1?nav=tocList

Apart from interesting research papers, there is also a contribution about Horst Herrlich and his influence on mathematical research in South Africa. The publisher decided to make the full issue available in ‘free access’ format till the end of February 2024.

Sincerely,

Sanne ter Horst

Editor-in-Chief

Quaestiones Mathematicae

Event: The 7th biennial international group theory conference (7BIGTC)

Conference dates: 7 – 11 August 2023

Venue: NWU Potchefstroom Campus (South Africa)

Conference website: https://natural-sciences.nwu.ac.za/7bigtc2023

Two positions, one in Pure Mathematics, and one in Applied Mathematics, have been re-advertised. Both positions are at the Lecturer or Senior Lecturer level.

The closing dates for the applications for Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics are 6 May 2022 and 9 May 2022 respectively.

Please see the attachments for more information on these positions.

Following the SAMS AGM of 1 December 2021, there is a new SAMS Council.