Le Nouvelles du LMS-MARM programme à Lubumbashi

LMS-IMU-MARM (2024-2025)

	Conférences "Luca Attanasio & Vittorio Iacovacci" & Laboratoires "Mustapha Milambo"

Aims and Purposes

Math-TYS	is the acronym for "Mathematical Training for Young Scholars" which, starting from July 21, 2025, aims to be a yearly celebration of schools in advanced mathematics to be held in Democratic Republic of Congo during the winter time. The purpose is training young Congolese scholars and learners receiving their education at the Educational Institutions of Lubumbashi, notably the University of Lubumbashi (UniLu) and other academic institutions in neighboring African countries (such as Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya...).

Mission	The intrinsic mission of the "Luca Attanasio and Vittorio Iacovacci" Lectures, as well as the "Mustapha Milambo"'s Labs, is to enhance and spreading the mathematical way of thinking throughout all the society, according to the guidelines of the Mentoring African Research in Mathematics (LMS-MARM) scheme (funded by the London Mathematical Society (LMS), the International Mathematical Union (IMU) and the African Millennium Mathematics Science Initiative (AMMSI) in Nairobi, as a primary tool to boost concrete development actions in science and technology. At the same time, through an innovative and effective involvement of master students in this initiative, the “Mustapha Milambo”'s labs, will provide opportunities to high school students to be temporarily embedded in an academic environment. A succesful example of this model can be retrieved in the LMS-MARM program in Namibia, which has seen the organization and the realization of the first Namibian International Spring School in Mathematics (NAISSMA 2022), supported also by TWAS, by the Italian Embassy in Pretoria, by the European Mathematical Society CDC.

UN Vision 2030	The idea of looking for innovative ways to foster mathematical culture is borrowed from the declaration of the strategic goals indicated in the Vision 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, in particular, are indicated as strategic and fundamental to the aim of boosting economic growth and social equality. Mathematics is at once powerful (shown for example by the strategical importance of mathematical tools and methods in Big Data Science, Quantum Computing, AI) and cheap from the point of view of resource funding. One of the Math-TYS goal is to put a further focus on the strategic role of Mathematics, whose initial letter M is the final one of the magic acronym STEM which the Vision 2030 Agenda of United Nation for the sustainable development relies upon. Mathematics carries the biggest rate of strategical impact within the STEM disciplines due to its ubiquity in both fundamental and applied sciences and because it is the cheapest practice to the end of the scientific and technological enhancement of a young Nation. In particular the school meets the targets 4.9, 4A, 5.8, 17.6, 17.8, 17.9 among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The Aims	Math-TYS aims to become an inclusive work platform at the heart of an ambitious project inspired by the practice of lifelong learning, to which all strata of the Congolese society, (thought not in themselves, but as a cell of the African community, thought of not in itself, but as a cell of the worldwide community), are invited to participate and to develop. The project only needs modest investment from the supporting institutions (as the LMS-MARM succesful policy shows), which on the other hand will directly benefits from it in the medium term. The first 2025 Edition will be celebrated at UniLu, due to its designations among the 2024-2015 African partner institutions of the LMS-IMU-AMMSI MARM scheme, and the main goal is to make the activities permanent and lasting beyond the duration of the MARM support. Math-TYS aims to promote a model of integrated growth of the society and of the productive world surrounding the academic environment, according to a culture of social peace and peace among peoples, which the Ambassador Luca Attanasio daily preached with the example of His life.

"Il Piano Mattei"	The implementation of the “Luca Attanasio and Vittorio Iacovacci” Lectures as well as the “Mustapha Milambo” Labs, is an ideal parameter for promoting academic actions adressed to overcome, and bounding, through effective educational changes, situations of social inequalities prevalent in all the societies of emerging young countries, like most of the African ones. Although our present project must be adherent to the general guidelines prescribed by the LMS-MARM scheme, it cannot be avoided to notice that the program Math-TYS perfectly fits in the general framework of the Italian Piano Mattei, launched in Rome in January 28-29, 2024, because of, for instance, the following reasons, not to list a few of them: Education and Training in STEMS (and not only) is the first of the 6 pillars of the Italian Piano Mattei. The LMS-MARM "Luca Attanasio & Vittorio Iacovacci", alongwith the "Mustapha Milambo" Labs, is born as, and will keep being, a collaboration between peer, in this case the european coordinator (Letterio Gatto, POLI.To) and the Congolese's one (Franck Kalala Mutombo, UniLU). The two partners design, plan and implement together the activities and share the outputs in terms of achievements; The initiative is focused, with measurable impact (e.g. how many new researcher will enter into the research market). It is replicable; The project carries the potential of a big social (citizenship awareness), scientific and technologic impact, as a counterpart of an absolutely modest cost of implementation; The initiative insists on the concept of “transfer of know-how” and endogenous development in young emerging economies, in particular the African ones.

Math_TYS flexibility	Short term advanced schools in mathematics and related STEM subjects like Math-TYS is a flexible ingredient of the academic landscape, open for year-to-year rapid amendments, responding timely to local needs, available teaching force, and other factors, whereas traditional semesters long university courses are rather bound by patterns with more inertia and a desire for stability, than adressing innovation. This kind of engagement and flexibility will make the Math-TYS schools the ideal instrument for experimentation towards greater networking, involvement integration and synergy with European and other non-African academic institutions and organisations, constituting a key methodological ingredient with the general aim to boost the already prestigious international profile of UniLu. It is also this flexibility that allows for rapid change in funding patterns, which, on one hand, ensures that the LMS-MARM action can be quickly reflected and measured by economic indicators, and, on the other, serves as precious feedback for its efforts, to guide further developments and collaborations.

The Third Mission	Mathematics: why? Because it is the ideal science for both flexible movement of teaching labour and learner mass, being in all respects the most universal branch of science, ubiquitous to all cultures, with a direct potential to support economic growth and social development. Mathematics is also the most democratic science. No special equipment is needed for its practice, no particular background is required other than the willingness to mental work and curiosity, shown by most people for example in their positive attitude towards games and riddles. Even though educational and social backgrounds affects childrens aptitude for mathematics, this is much less an issue than for other branches of science and technology. Mathematics is best for these purposes in view of its recognised utility and basis for the other sciences and technology and in general being a main pillar of knowledge in all our modern societies.

Sustainability and expected Impact	The purpose of the forthcoming Math-TYS, as well as that of all its futures editions, to be held in the second half of the month of July 2025, is to create the necessary conditions for sustainability of the initiative. The support of all the partner institutions for the pilot activity can be seen as an important investment for the future and it can be expected that forthcoming editions of Math-TYS initiative will be established through the standard mechanisms of self-financing. Once the first edition of Math-TYS gets successfully celebrated, it will be easy to implement the subsequent ones with the support of many other scientific istitutions and partner organizations involved (in and out Africa). This is the reason why it is desirable to initiate and promote an unprecedented synergy and collaboration between scientific, economic and diplomatic institutions, in order to realize and promote Math-TYS, the best possible way to create and implement a self-funded and sustainable framework of periodical mathematics schools in DCR and neighboring countries. As recalled, this still fully fits with the inspiring principles of the italian Piano Mattei., whose Higher (Scientific) Education constitute the first of its six pillars. Having demonstrated the nature of "Luca Attanasio & Vittorio Iacovacci" Math-TYS, alongwith the "Mustapha Milambo"'s labs, as an objective for the general aims of the MARM programme and therefore the appropriateness of the proposed activities, it is also worth stressing which impact these extra-curriculum activities of the Math-TYS winter schools will have. It is through the outreach activities and inclusive nature of the envisaged winter school design, that Math-TYS will obtain the necessary conditions for being a funding attractor, gaining academic weight and students’ interest that will guarantee its sustainability. It is through the close interaction with the key stakeholders, such as local authorities and private sector representatives, that the public visibility of Math-TYS will be pursued, a visibility which, in turn, will make such interactions possible.