Historically, applied mathematics in the region was very much biased towards engineering and mathematical physics. At the same time, Africa has been experiencing serious problems with various diseases (HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, etc). Only in recent times has Southern Africa started to respond by harnessing its mathematical expertise towards the control of diseases. The most recent action in this regard is the establishment of the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modeling and Applications (SACEMA). Furthermore, since South Africa became democratic, it has become a popular choice for post-graduate study for students from all over Africa. In particular, AIMS (African Institute for Mathematical Sciences) attracts a good crop of students annually to their advanced diploma course and most of these students follow higher degrees at South African universities. To this end, the main purpose of this workshop is to build human resource capacity in expertise on mathematical modeling in the SADC region. Furthermore, we want to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematicians and the scientists that apply the mathematics, such as in statistics, bioinformatics, applied biological modeling, etc. The institutions that are currently engaged in such activities in the Western Cape region are SACEMA (South African Centre for Epidemiological Modeling and Applications, Stellenbosch), SANBI (South African National Bioinformatics Institute, University of the Western Cape), CIB (Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch), CARe (Centre for Actuarial Research, UCT), MRC (Medical Research Council, Cape Town) etc. There are other institutions in the neighbouring SADC countries where such research is ongoing.
Mathematical modeling and computational simulations have become an integral part of the current research in the disease modeling, as well as for policy decisions and implementation. When various factors responsible for phenomena of interest are incorporated, these disease models become very complex. Both analytical as well as computational tools become rather challenging at this stage to handle these models. This school will focus on the mathematical modeling of such complex dynamical systems. Emphasis will be placed on the development of softwares that can incorporate the novel ideas from the advanced statistics and computational mathematics. While a novice researcher will benefit by understanding major issues associated with modeling of such biological populations, the pioneers in the field can contribute many new ideas through this school. Selective scientists/mathematicians/students working in the field of modeling and computational simulation of biological populations are expected to participate in this school. This school will, more generally, strengthen the modeling and computational research in the Southern African countries.