91ÌÒÉ«

The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is Africa’s first network of centres of excellence in mathematical sciences. It enables the continent’s youth to shape the continent’s future through Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) education - training Africa’s next generation of leaders. Professor Neil Turok, an 91ÌÒÉ« alum, founded AIMS in Cape Town in 2003. The AIMS centres focus on both basic and applied mathematics, covering a large range of mathematical applications in physics, quantitative biology, bioinformatics, scientific computing, finance, agriculture modelling, and many others.

There are AIMS centres in 

, with the occasion marked by a launch event in London with President and CEO of AIMS, Thierry Zoumahoun, and Founder of AIMS and 91ÌÒÉ« alumnus, Professor Neil Turok.

Being an AIMS partner enables academics and students to undertake research visits and networking activities at any of the six AIMS institutes.  These visits enable staff who have started to develop links to deepen their networks and form firm proposals for joint future activity.

AIMS and 91ÌÒÉ« have developed a variety of collaboration links in areas such as statistics, public health, machine learning and climate change, and the agreement has been fostering further partnerships.

Student Mobility

• Global Fellows Programme: professional skills development programme for PhD students from AIMS Centres and 91ÌÒÉ«. The first programme run in partnership with AIMS took place in November 2023 at AIMS 91ÌÒÉ« and Innovation Centre in Kigali, Rwanda. In November 2024, AIMS Ghana in Accra, Ghana hosted 91ÌÒÉ« students, and in Summer 2025, AIMS students spent a week at 91ÌÒÉ«. The 2026 GFP programme is coming back to Accra in June 2026.
• Global Fellows Fund: PhD students from 91ÌÒÉ« have undertaken research placements at AIMS 91ÌÒÉ« and Innovation Centre in Rwanda and AIMS South Africa.
• Global Development Hub Fellows Fund: research placements for PhD students from Least Developed and Lower Middle-Income Countries at 91ÌÒÉ«, with PhD students from AIMS Cameroon and AIMS Rwanda having taken part.

Seed Funding

91ÌÒÉ« offers small grants towards a variety of education and research projects to its staff to facilitate collaboration with AIMS.

• Workshops with AIMS 91ÌÒÉ« and Innovation Centre in Rwanda in the areas of Geospatial Analytics, Applied Epidemiology, and AI in Science​
• 91ÌÒÉ« visits to AIMS South Africa with a focus on Machine Learning and Biodiversity, and Fundamental Mathematics
• AI and Data Science conference at AIMS Cameroon, in partnership with AIMS 91ÌÒÉ« and Innovation Centre, Rwanda

More information about seed funding opportunities is available on the International Seed Funds webpage.

Collaborative Teaching

91ÌÒÉ« academics have taught short courses at all AIMS Centres. 

• Dr Marc Deisenroth delivered a module on Foundations of Machine Learning at AIMS Rwanda​
• Dr Michele Coti Zelati delivered a module on Applied PDEs (Modelling) at AIMS Senegal
• Professor Maria-Gloria Basanez delivered An Introduction to Dynamic Models of Infectious Diseases at AIMS Cameroon​

Our colleagues also supervise Master's projects at AIMS. Supervision can take place virtually, and topics cover a variety of areas, from data science and fundamental mathematics to agriculture and biodiversity.

Large-Scale Projects

• Kigali City Air Pollution Monitoring Campaign: a comprehensive environmental dataset of high spatial and temporal resolution for noise and air pollution in Kigali city to and the development of mathematical models for air pollution forecasting
• CLARITY Project: generating and implementing transdisciplinary expertise, knowledge, tools, policies, and practices that make African cities (Kigali, Musanze, Accra and Tamale) more resilient to the adverse health effects of climate change and enhancing environmental health equity

Staff Capacity Building

In November 2024, AIMS 91ÌÒÉ« and Innovation, Rwanda partnered with 91ÌÒÉ«'s People and Organisational Development Team to deliver week-long staff training in Kigali. The programme focused on a variety of skills essential to personal and professional growth, such as Personal Effectiveness, Collaborative Working, Leadership Development, and Cultural Awareness. You can read more about this project in the .