Dr Chris Athorne visited AIMS Ghana, Biriwa, Central Region, for two weeks in May. Chris was supervising the project work of his students Irmely Nsiloulou and Esther Opoku. Chris wrote the following short piece about his visit:

“My door opens onto the Gulf of Guinea, a turquoise expanse filling my vision. As I make a way up to the AIMS Institute, a white, blue-roofed pagoda on the hill top, I am walking through a rabble of butterflies. White egrets play at statues before lifting themselves above the trees, legs trailing, noses in the air. By the time I reach the Institute I'm soaked with sweat. The nights are cooler only because of the constant breeze from the sea and the ceiling fan which, however, makes the noise of a small tractor.

I'm warmly greeted at breakfast by the students. They come from all over the continent. Those I am supervising for this fortnight are Irmely, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Esther, from Kumasi in the Ashanti region of Ghana to the north.

AIMS Ghana (https://www.aims.edu.gh/), at Biriwa (pronounced B'r'waa) is one of six such institutes, a pan-African network first established in 2003 as a partnership between European and South African universities. The administrative centre is now located in Rwanda. I don't think there can be more than about 350 students in total. In AIMS Ghana there are 48, taught through the academic year by visiting lecturers in three week intensive blocks. As a project supervisor my visit is less intense but, seeing my students up to twice a day, it's still a closer supervising relationship than I'm used to and I need to put in a fair amount of work behind the scenes. I also get involved in sitting in and contributing questions to the presentations of others in a wide range of subjects from Algebraic Geometry to Particle Physics. The level of ability is often high. The enthusiasm and hope higher still.

This was the Gold Coast. The centre of the British Slave Trade was located a few miles to the west at Cape Coast whose fort, and dungeons, still stand and are well worth a visit. Beyond the palm trees and the Atlantic breakers you may make out the rival Dutch fort, Elmina.

One has to forgo comforts. Accommodation is clean but spartan; the food, variable. I was on Imodium for half the stay. For a beer you can slip down the hill under cover of darkness and the unearthly singing of the local villagers in the bush to a petrol station beside the coastal road. Or you can walk a mile or two to one of the hotels down the coast which cater for the "oburoni".

Take what you want from this article: paradise is a mixed bag. But, as the Africans say: Akwaaba. I have never felt more welcome in a place so foreign.”

Dr Andy Baker gave a Topology Seminar entitled “Finitely generated E-infinity ring spectra” while on a research visit to Oslo, during the month of April.

Prof Tara Brendle hosted a one-week workshop entitled “Braids in algebra, geometry and topology” at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS) in Edinburgh from Monday 22nd to Friday 26th May.

Dr Duncan Lee visited Kelvindale Primary School again on Wednesday 17th May, this time to speak to their Primary 6 pupils about what it is like to be a statistician and university lecturer as part of their STEM week. 

Duncan also presented a 2-day workshop for analysts in NHS Scotland on spatial modelling, presented seminars in Universities of Leeds and Edinburgh and gave a seminar to the Scottish Health Protection Network - Air pollution and health subgroup.

Dr Mu Niu gave a talk entitled “Parameter Inference in Nonlinear Dynamical Systems using Gradient Matching” at the Partial Differential Equations for Large Data Workshop on Thursday 11th May at the Mathematics Institute, Warwick University.

Dr Nan Qi attended the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium (BAMC) at the University of Surrey from Monday 10th to Wednesday 12th April where she gave a poster presentation.

In May, Nan visited Shandong University, China where she gave a seminar entitled “Mathematical modelling of soft tissue and its applications to human cardiovascular system” at their School of Mathematics.

Dr Steve Roper visited the University of Sussex in Brighton for a research visit.

Prof Ian Strachan attended, as President of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society, the annual "Meeting of Presidents", held under the auspices of the European Mathematical Society. The meeting took place in Lisbon on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd April. 

Dr Peter Stewart gave an Applied Mathematics seminar entitled “Fluid Mechanics of the optic nerve” at the University of Auckland on Tuesday 4th April.

Dr Colin Torney was in the Serengeti, Tanzania during the month April studying the wildebeest migration by filming from a balloon. 

First published: 7 June 2017

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