Research development in Africa

Summaries of my work in Africa

• Live and remote: Nairobi workshops in algebraic geometry, EMS Magazine, June 2022 (with Chiara Bonadiman, Jared Ongaro, Diletta Martinelli)
• Developing mathematics in East Africa, Newsletter of the London Mathematical Society, July 2018

News

• I am one of the invited speakers at the 2024 Nigerian Mathematical Society conference, 6-10 May 2024, Ibadan, Nigeria
• I am an organiser of the 2024 EAUMP-ICTP School on the Mathematics of AI, in collaboration with AMU, CIMPA and ISP

Recent events

• We recently ran a remote Learning Seminar in Algebraic Geometry
• I was one of the organisers of a workshop Topology for Tomorrow at Siyakhula: Growing Mathematics in Africa, 17-22 March 2024, AIMS, Muizenberg, South Africa
• I was an Invited Speaker at the African-Nordic Conference on Mathematics at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, 1-4 August 2023
• I gave two remote lectures at the Perspective Mathematical School in Algebra and Geometry, University of Yaounde, Cameroon, 24-26 July 2023
• I taught at the 2023 EAUMP-ICTP School on Enumerative Combinatorics in Arusha, Tanzania, 10-28 July 2023
• We organised a Workshop on Algebra, Topology, and Applications at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 3-7 July 2023
• I spoke at a workshop Mathematics building partnerships with Africa, Politechnico di Torino, 12 June 2023
• I was one of the speakers at a symposium Establishing Europe-Africa academic collaborations at the University of Amsterdam, 1 June 2023

Some partner institutions

• Committee for Developing Countries of the European Mathematical Society, where I am Vice Chair
• African Women in Algebra, where I am on the advisory board
• Geometry Group, Department of Mathematics, University of Nairobi
• Eastern Africa Universities Mathematics Programme (EAUMP)
  • Eastern Africa Algebra Research Group
• AIMS South Africa, Muizenberg, South Africa
  • I was a member of the AIMS-SA Council 2014-2022
• Department of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, Maseno University, Kenya
• African Maths Initiative and SAMI
  • I am one of the Trustees of SAMI
• Department of Mathematics, University of Rwanda
• Department of Mathematics, Makerere University, Uganda 
• Department of Mathematics, University of Zambia
• Department of Mathematics, University of Dar es Salaam
• Department of Mathematics, University of Ibadan
• MARM: Mentoring African Research in Mathematics by the London Mathematical Society
  • MARM Board

Successful grant applications in support of mathematics in Africa

• £170,892, EPSRC GCRF Grant for Capacity building in Africa via technology-driven research in algebraic and arithmetic geometry, also known as the Abram Gannibal Project, 2019-2022
• £42,452, Internal HEFCE Global Challenges Research Fund Grant 2018, University of Oxford, in support of research into the use of big data in agriculture
• £60,970, EPSRC Global Challenges Research Fund Institutional Sponsorship Funding 2016, University of Oxford, in support of research in quantitative corruption analysis
• £10,000, LMS MARM Mentoring Scheme grant, 2014-2016, in support of collaboration with the Geometry group, Department of Mathematics, University of Nairobi, Kenya
• £10,000, LMS MARM Mentoring Scheme grant, 2010-2012, in support of collaboration with the Department of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, Maseno University, Kenya

Some events I helped to organize

• Nairobi Workshops on Algebraic Geometry since 2015, University of Nairobi, Kenya (lead International Organizer)
• EAUMP Summer Schools (International Organizer)
  • 2023 EAUMP-ICTP School on Enumerative Combinatorics, in Collaboration with AMU, CIMPA and ISP, Arusha Technical College, 10-28 July 2023
  • 2022 ICTP – EAUMP Summer School on Mathematical Programming and Algorithms – an African Mathematical School, University of Nairobi, July 2022
  • 2021 ICTP – EAUMP Summer School Topics in Concrete Mathematics, remote school, August 2021
  • 2019 ICTP – EAUMP Summer School on Algebric Topology and its Applications, Makerere University, 15 July – 2 August 2019
  • 2018 EAUMP -ICTP School and Workshop on Homological Methods in Algebra and Geometry, University of Dar es Salaam, 9-28 July 2018
  • 2017 ICTP-EAUMP School on Modern Functional Analysis, University of Nairobi, 18 June – 7 July 2017
  • 2016 EAUMP Summer School on Number Theory, University of Rwanda, 4-22 July 2016.
  • 2015 EAUMP Summer School on Experimental Pure Mathematics, Makerere University, Uganda, 6-23 July 2015.
  • 2014 EAUMP Summer School on Representation Theory, Arusha Technical College, Arusha, Tanzania, 7-26 July 2014.
  • 2013 East African School on Applicable Algebraic Geometry, Bandari College, Mombasa, Kenya from 6-28 July 2013.
• 3rd EAUMP Conference, 26-28 October 2016, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda (International Scientific Committee member)
• Meetings at Strathmore University
  • 4th Strathmore International Mathematics Conference, 19-23 June 2017, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya (External Scientific Committee member)
  • 3rd Strathmore International Mathematics Conference, 3-7 August 2015, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya (Scientific Committee member)
  • 2nd Strathmore International Mathematics Conference, 12-16 August 2013, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya (Scientific Committee member)
  • Strathmore International Mathematics Research Meeting, 23-27 July 2012, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya (lead International Organizer of pure mathematics session)
  • First international conference in mathematical sciences, 18-20 August 2011, Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya (Organizer of Special Session) 
• Workshop in Algebra and Applications, 2-6 April 2017, Livingstone, Zambia (lead Organizer) 

Collaborations with African mathematicians

• Geoffrey Mboya and Balázs Szendrői, On K3 fibred Calabi-Yau threefolds in weighted scrolls, Rendiconti del Circolo Matematico di Palermo.
• Praise Adeyemo and Balázs Szendrői, Refined Ehrhart series and bigraded rings, Studia Sci. Math. Hung 60, 97-108.
• Ben Davison, Jared Ongaro and Balázs Szendrői, Enumerating coloured partitions in 2 and 3 dimensions, Math. Proc. Cam. Phil. Soc. 169 (2020) 479-505.

Other publications

• Danny Parsons, David Stern, Balázs Szendrői and Elizabeth David-Barrett, Interdisciplinary data workshops: Combining Statistical Consultancy Training with Practitioner Data Literacy. In: Burrill, G.F., de Oliveria Souza, L., Reston, E. (eds) Research on Reasoning with Data and Statistical Thinking: International Perspectives. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, 2023
• Ágnes Czibik, Elizabeth Dávid-Barrett, Mihály Fazekas, Danny Parsons, David Stern, Roger Stern and Balázs Szendrői: Assessing Tanzania’s National Procurement Data Infrastructure, policy paper, Government Transparency Institute, 2017
• Martin Singull, Balázs Szendrői and Antonella Zanna, Evaluation Report of the Eastern Africa Universities Mathematics Programme, technical report, 2017