Mentoring African Research in Mathematics (MARM)

The MARM programme links African academics with their UK and European counterparts via professional mentoring partnerships.  In doing so, MARM provides the means and opportunities for African mathematicians to develop international working relationships while also improving the quality of academic provision within their home institution.

The Society believes that enhancing and developing academic research and research institutions in Africa will help ensure that pursuing first rank mathematical careers within Africa will be both achievable and a more attractive option than moving permanently.

The MARM programme has been running since 2005, with the original funding coming from the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

There have been six rounds of the programme to date; the current round is sponsored by the LMS and the International Mathematical Union (IMU) in association with the African Mathematics Millennium Sciences Initiative (AMMSI).  The scheme is overseen by the MARM Board.

A booklet and poster describing the impact of the programme and showing the diversity of the partnerships formed since 2005 were produced for the IMU CDC poster session on Strengthening Mathematics in the Developing World, held on 7 August 2018.

 

Future rounds of MARM Partnership Grants

It is anticipated that a seventh round of MARM Partnership Grants will open in 2024. Details will be posted to this page in due course.

 

MARM Partnership Grants 2019/20 (Round 6)

Four grants were awarded in the last round and the partnerships started in November 2020. The partnerships are as follows:

MARM-20-01: Awardee - Maciej Dunajski (Cambridge), paired with Universite Gaston Berger, Senegal

*MARM-20-02: Awardee - Letterio Gatto (Politecnico di Torino) – paired with University of Namibia, Namibia

*This partnership included the Namibian International Spring School of Mathematics, which took place on October 23-28, 2022. See the poster for this event here. See the event website here.

MARM-20-03: Awardee - Sergey E. Mikhailov (Brunel), paired with Adama Science and Technology University, Ethiopia

MARM-20-04: Awardee - Luca Giuggioli (Bristol), paired with Universite Felix Houphouet Boigny (UFHB), Ivory Coast

 

Activities undertaken by the MARM Partnerships

Each partnership has collaboratively defined its own objectives and priorities specific to the needs of the African institution, as well as its own methods of accomplishing these.

Activities underaken have included:

  • Exchange visits
  • Lectures, seminars and workshop series at African institutions
  • Joint PhD supervision
  • Improvements in library and IT resources at African institutions
  • Support for conference attendance (in Africa and internationally)
  • Consultancy and advice on developing postgraduate programmes
  • Mentoring and support for African postgraduate students with respect to wider academic skills
  • Mentoring African early career staff in research and other skills
  • Working with African university administrators to improve recruitment
  • Improving African departmental structuring
  • Working with African institutions to ensure the maintenance of resources for mathematics departments
  • Development of research contacts and networking