Postgraduate Research &
Innovation Symposium (PRIS)

Spotlight on PRIS 2022 – School of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science

The College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science (CAES) is hosting its 12th annual Postgraduate Research and Innovation Symposium (PRIS) under the theme #ClimateChange. Some 200 postgraduate students will share their research through oral and flash presentations at the online event.

The School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science is one of the largest in the country. The three disciplines are all national and international scarce skills, with many exciting opportunities for employment or further research endeavours for graduates. Research in the School covers a variety of topics in Pure and Applied Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science.

A total of 16 students from the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science will be presenting at PRIS 2022 with research projects that have environmental, societal and industrial impact.  The only Masters candidate for this year, Mr Thuto Ndlovu will speak about ‘A multiwavelength study of x-ray binary stars.’

The majority of the entrants for this year in the School are PhD candidates. Some of the projects from our PhD entrants are as follows: Ms Mulalo Makhuvha’s research looks into ‘Studying the effect of parasite switching in optimal control analysis of sleeping sickness.’ Ms Shavani Naicker will present research on ‘Isotropic perfect fluids in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity.’ Mr Tirivangani Magadza will discuss ‘Efficient Brain Tumor Segmentation using Partial Depthwise Separable Convolutions.’

We will also be hosting online exhibitions from 30 of our industry partners. The College has strong linkages with industry because they believe in our research excellence. ‘ASSAF is pleased to be sponsoring the first prize for the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Postgraduate Research and Innovation Symposium 2022,’ said Dr Susan Veldsman, Director of Scholarly Publishing at ASSAF. ‘We wish you well during these two days, and celebrate your outstanding achievements’

Some other highlights from PRIS 2022 include the keynote address from Dr Debra Roberts, Head of eThekwini Municipality’s Sustainable and Resilient City Initiatives Unit, and Co-Chair of the IPCC Working Group II. The event will close with a prize-giving ceremony in which all the best oral and flash presentations will be awarded prizes ranging from R3 000 to R15 000. There will also be a number of lucky draw prizes up for grabs for those in attendance.

Register on our website to join us online on 8 – 9 December 2022.