Science and Development Forum

Mathematical sciences are an indispensable discipline for basic and applied sciences, which are preconditions for fostering development. Sound statistics play a crucial role in assessing the state of a nation and devising appropriate policy measures.

Data sciences is increasingly important not only for technology development and the private sector, but also to support and complement statistics of the public sector in low and middle countries as well as in international organisations. One of its applications is monitoring the externe Seite Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations with its 230 quantitative externe Seite indicators.

In many developing countries teaching and research in mathematics does not meet the standards for high-quality professional services. One of the initiatives to overcome this short-coming is externe Seite AIMS, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. AIMS builds a large part of its course on voluntary lecturers from all around the world and is interested in recruiting ETH externe Seite lecturers and externe Seite tutors.

ETH Zurich is well positioned to contribute research partnerships and capacity development in various fields of mathematical and data sciences.

The one-day Forum is divided in two thematic sessions, followed by a panel discussion.

iMathematical sciences are an indispensable discipline for basic and applied sciences, which are preconditions for fostering development. Sound statistics play a crucial role in assessing the state of a nation and devising appropriate policy measures.

Data sciences is increasingly important not only for technology development and the private sector, but also to support and complement statistics of the public sector in low and middle countries as well as in international organisations. One of its applications is monitoring the externe Seite Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations with its 230 quantitative externe Seite indicators.

In many developing countries teaching and research in mathematics does not meet the standards for high-quality professional services. One of the initiatives to overcome this short-coming is externe Seite AIMS, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. AIMS builds a large part of its course on voluntary lecturers from all around the world and is interested in recruiting ETH externe Seite lecturers and externe Seite tutors.

ETH Zurich is well positioned to contribute research partnerships and capacity development in various fields of mathematical and data sciences.

The one-day Forum is divided in two thematic sessions, followed by a panel discussion.

Mathematical and Data Sciences for Development

9:00 Welcome Coffee

9:20 Welcome Address
Prof. Dr. Detlef Günther, Vice President Research, ETH Zurich 

9:25 Opening Address
Prof. Dr. Peter Bühlmann, Chair Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich

Session I: Capacity Development

9:30 The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (externe Seite AIMS): Success stories, challenges, opportunities
Dr. Barry Green, Director of AIMS South Africa

10:10 AIMS Testimonials

Student opportunities: Past ETH AIMS tutor
Paweł Morzywołek, Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich

Teaching opportunities: Past ETH AIMS lecturer
Prof. Dr. em. Werner Stahel, Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich

10:30 Coffee Break

11:00 Capacity Development 4.0 for the new Data Ecosystem
Dr. Johannes Jütting, OECD, Manager of externe Seite PARIS21, France

11:40 Are emerging markets the new source for data science capacities? An experience report
Peter Münzenmayer, Swiss Re, Switzerland

12:20 Lunch

Session II: Applications of Mathematical and Data Sciences for Development

13:30 Big data for monitoring the externe Seite Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Promises and pitfalls
Prof. Dr. Karsten Donnay, Computational Social Science at Universität Konstanz, Germany

14:00 Using R in the development sector in Myanmar and Vietnam: Benefits, challenges, and impacts of open source tools for working with data
Prof. Dr. Ben Marwick, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington Seattle, USA

14:30 Coffee break

15:00 Data Analysis for Poverty and Policy Evaluation
Dr. Kenneth Harttgen, Center for Development and Cooperation (Nadel), ETH Zurich

15:20 Mathematics and Finance for Development
Prof. Dr. Martin Larsson, Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich  

15:40 Using machine learning for choosing crop varieties
Johannes Kirschner, Learning & Adaptive Systems Group, Machine Learning Institute, ETH Zurich 

16:00 Panel discussion on Challenges and Opportunities

Panelists:

- Barry Green, Director of AIMS South Africa
- Johannes Jütting, OECD, Manager of externe Seite PARIS21, France
- Ben Marwick, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington Seattle, USA
- Paul Embrechts, Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich

Facilitator: Dr. Barbara Becker, ETH Zurich

16:45 Closing
Prof. Dr. Marloes Maathuis, Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich 

17:00 Reception