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Who are we?

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The Centre International de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées (CIMPA), founded in France in 1978, is a nonprofit organisation that promotes research in Mathematics in developing countries. Located in Nice, it is a UNESCO Category 2 centre. It benefits from the financial support of Germany, France, Norway, Spain and Switzerland. Each year CIMPA co-organises and sponsors numerous activities in developing countries; each activity is funded through a process of calls for proposals in one of the following categories:

  • CIMPA Schools: This is the historical activity of CIMPA, it focuses on areas where there is a real drive to develop mathematics and where there is a scope for a research project. Around twenty Research Schools are organised each year, involving participants from the host country and other developing countries.
  • CIMPA Courses: The programme provides funding for a guest lecturer to teach a master or research level courses in mathematics.
  • CIMPA Fellowships : CIMPA funds the participation of young mathematicians from developing countries to short-term thematic international programs organised by some of our partner institutions. A call for applications is opened for each program. 
  • CIMPA-ICTP Research in Pairs : This programme, in partnership with the ICTP, makes it possible for researchers in mathematics based in a developing country to come to Europe to collaborate with a colleague.

Other activities strongly supported by CIMPA include those developed in close collaboration with continental mathematical societies, such as the Schools in Partnership, which aim to introduce undergraduate and Master students from developing countries to research in mathematics.

Following a recommendation made during the 18th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in Paris in 1974, the creation of CIMPA was decided during the 19th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in Nairobi in 1976. On the initiative of the French Government and a group of founding members (J.P. Aubin, J. Céa, P. Deheuvels, F. Dress, C. Godbillon, H. Hogbe Nlend, J.L. Lions, J.L. Koszul, E.J. Picard, A. Revuz, P. Sabourin), the International Center for Pure and Applied Mathematics was formally created as an association of the law of 1901, on 30 October 1978. According to its statutes, its mission is the training of mathematicians coming in priority from developing countries, by means of study visits during the university academic year and of summer schools, and with the help of the development of means of documentations. The seat of CIMPA is fixed at Nice, and its host university is the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.

The association CIMPA gathers individual members, institutional members and member states. Originally purely French, CIMPA took on a European dimension with the entrance of two new members states, Spain in 2009 and Norway in 2011, and the strong financial support of Switzerland since 2011. More recently, Germany joined as a member state in 2021. Currently, the main sources of funding for CIMPA are: the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, the laboratory of excellence CARMIN, the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Germany), the National Institute of Mathematical Sciences and their interactions (INSMI) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France), the Ministry of Economics, Industry and Competitiveness (Spain), the Ministry of Education and Research (Norway), and the Secrétariat d'État à la formation, à la recherche et à l'innovation (Switzerland) via the University of Neuchâtel.

Ever since its creation, the CIMPA is led by a President, working in collaboration with the Executive Committee, and an Executive Director in charge of the day-to-day running of the association. 

Presidents of CIMPA:

  • 1978: Jean Céa
  • 1979-1988: Henri Hogbe Nlend
  • 1989-1992: François Dress
  • 1993-1996: Attia Ashour
  • 1997-2000: Roger Ballay
  • 2001-2004: Mohamed Jaoua
  • 2005-2008: Mario Wschebor
  • 2009-2016: Tsou Sheung Tsun
  • 2017 - 2024: Barry Green
  • 2025 -: Helena Nussenzveig Lopes

Executive directors of CIMPA:

  • 1979-1984: Pierre Grisvard
  • 1985: Solange Delache
  • 1986-1991: Jean-Michel Lemaire
  • 1992-1994: Georges Dloussky
  • 1994: Jean Pouget
  • 1995-2000: Claude Lobry
  • 2000-2008: Michel Jambu
  • 2008-2016: Claude Cibils
  • 2016-2020: Ludovic Rifford
  • 2020 -: Christophe Ritzenthaler

organigramme du CIMPA

The CIMPA receives subsidies from the following European and international institutions:

  • Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Germany)
  • Institut National des Sciences Mathématiques et de leurs Interactions du CNRS (France)
  • Laboratoire d'Excellence CARMIN (France)
  • Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion y Universidades (Spain)
  • Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche/Direction générale de la recherche et de l’innovation (France)
  • Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires Etrangères (France)
  • Ministry of Education and Research (Norway)
  • Université de Neuchâtel et EPFL (Switzerland)
  • Simons Foundation
  • Université Côte d'Azur (France)

The primary partners of CIMPA are the institutional members of the Steering Council which develops the strategy and the scientific policy of CIMPA:

  • Académie des sciences, FRANCE
  • Comisión Española de Coopéración con la UNESCO, SPAIN
  • Comité Español de Matemáticas (CEMAT), SPAIN
  • Commission nationale française pour l’UNESCO, FRANCE
  • Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung (DMV), GERMANY
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), GERMANY
  • Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik (GAMM), GERMANY
  • Institut national de recherches en sciences et technologies du numérique (Inria), FRANCE
  • Institut national des sciences mathématiques et de leurs interactions (INSMI-CNRS), FRANCE
  • Norwegian Mathematical Society, NORWAY
  • Real Sociedad Matemática Española (RSME), SPAIN
  • Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa (SEIO), SPAIN
  • Sociedad Española de Matemática Aplicada (SEMA), SPAIN
  • Societat Catalana de Matemàtiques (SCM), SPAIN
  • Société de mathématiques appliquées et industrielles (SMAI), FRANCE
  • Société française de statistique (SFdS), FRANCE
  • Société mathématique de France (SMF), FRANCE
  • Swiss Mathematical Society (SMS), SWITZERLAND
  • Université de Neuchâtel, SWITZERLAND

Being part of the French laboratory of excellence CARMIN (Centre d'accueil et de rencontres mathématiques internationales), CIMPA works in close collaboration with the three other members:

  • Centre international de rencontres mathématiques (CIRM), FRANCE
  • Institut des hautes études scientifiques (IHES), FRANCE
  • Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP), FRANCE

CIMPA has signed agreements of cooperation with several institutions:

  • Académie Hassan II des Sciences et Techniques, MOROCCO
  • Centre Bernoulli, SWITZERLAND
  • Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, SPAIN
  • Forschungsinstitut für Mathematik, SWITZERLAND
  • Institut national de recherches en sciences et technologies du numérique (Inria), FRANCE École Nationale Supérieure de Mathématiques, ALGERIA
  • Laboratoire de Modélisation, Mathématiques, Informatique, Applications et Simulation (L2MIAS), CHAD
  • Lie-Størmer Center, NORWAY
  • Mathematisches Forschunginstitut Oberwolfach, GERMANY
  • Nesin Mathematics Village, TURKEY
  • Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS), CANADA
  • SwissMAP, SWITZERLAND
  • Université Côte d’Azur, FRANCE

Most of CIMPA’s activities benefit from close ties established by CIMPA with the following international organisations:

  • Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF)
  • Commission for Developing Countries of the International Mathematical Union (IMU-CDC)
  • Committee for Developing Countries of the European Mathematical Society (EMS-CDC)
  • International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), ITALY

Close partners of CIMPA also include several continental mathematical unions and committees, for example through the funding of Schools in Partnership:

  • Asian and European Schools in Mathematics (AESIM)
  • African Mathematical Union (AMU)
  • South East Asian Mathematical Society (SEAMS)
  • Unión Matemática de América Latina y el Caribe (UMALCA)

Other CIMPA partners:

  • African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
  • Association pour la Promotion Scientifique de l’Afrique (APSA)
  • Centro de Modelamiento Matematico (CMM), CHILE
  • Colloque Africain sur la Recherche en Informatique et Mathématiques Appliquées (CARI)
  • Comité National Français des Mathématiciens (CNFM), FRANCE
  • European Mathematical Society (EMS)
  • Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), FRANCE
  • International Mathematical Union (IMU)
  • International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM)
  • Koninklijk Wiskundig Genootschap (KWG), THE NEDERLANDS
  • Mathrice
  • Simons Foundation, USA
  • Soutien aux Activités de Recherche en Informatique et Mathématique en Afrique (SARIMA)
  • UNESCO