This year due to lockdown we have experienced many “first times” in the life of AIMS, and for all of us this was a new experience. So normally we would have held a special graduation ceremony celebrating the success of our 2019-20 Structured Master’s Students. As this was impossible now, we produced a short Recognition of  Achievement Video highlighting the achievement of this group of students.

We are very pleased that all our students completed the Master’s in Mathematical Sciences Programme successfully. This year we had 39 students, all completing the programme, among them 18 women. There were 7 students who obtained distinctions and their research projects were most interesting and of a high standard. These included topics from Mathematics, Physics and areas of application. Of particular interest at this time were projects relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, which included data science analytic modelling.

Local and international lecturers spent many hours online, supervising our students and it was encouraging to see how well this and the oral examination defense sessions worked.

The video contains messages by senior members of our partner universities, who would normally have been present at the ceremony, as well as a student address.

We would also like to congratulate the following students who have been awarded AIMS Endowed Scholarships. These are awarded to students who have performed exceptionally well during the course of the year.

• The Stephen Hawking Scholarship was awarded to Mr Ali Traore from Mali.

• The Martin Rees Scholarship, was awarded to Ms Fezile Sibongile Mhlabane from eSwatini

• The Paul G. Allen Scholarship was awarded toMr Hobihasina Patrick Rakotoarisoa from Madagascar

It is a pleasure to congratulate our 2019-20 Master’s group on their excellent achievement and to wish them all the best for the future.

Prof. Barry Green
Director, AIMS South Africa