African Success Stories

Professor Stanislas Ouaro and Professor Malik Maaza, both ICTP Associates, recently achieved important professional success, being appointed to a high-level political position and having won Africa’s highest scientific recognition, respectively.

Stanislas Ouaro, professor of mathematics and former ICTP Junior Associate from 2003 to 2010, has been appointed “Ministre de l’Education Nationale et de l’Alphabétisation” of his country, Burkina Faso, earlier this year.

Professor Ouaro obtained his PhD at Université de Ouagadougou in 2001. He has visited ICTP since 1999 as a participant in training activities, both in mathematics and climate modeling. He also spent research periods with ICTP's Mathematics section in 2005, 2006 and 2009 and has collaborated with ICTP frequently since then. In 2012, he was appointed President of Université Ouaga II, in Gonse, Burkina Faso.

Professor Malik Maaza, from Algeria and a regular ICTP associate, has been awarded the prestigious African Union Kwame Nkrumah Award for Scientific Excellence (AUKNASE) 2017, a major recognition at a continental level for his pioneering work in science and technology and for his contribution in science for African development. The prize consists of 100,000 USD to further boost the research capacity of the recipient. The award ceremony took place on Sunday 28^th of January 2018 during the 30th Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of States and Governments at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Maaza is the pioneer and the architect of nanosciences and nanotechnology in Africa. His long history in stimulating academic excellence and communication between academia, researchers, local communities and society within the continent gained him international recognition by UNESCO, which named him the UNESCO UNISA Africa Chair in Nanosciences & Nanotechnology in South Africa. Professor Maaza has pioneered and implemented numerous continental and national initiatives such as the African Laser Centre, the Nanosciences African Network, the National Laser Centre of South Africa and the South African Nanotechnology initiative (SANi) whose strategy was launched by the South African Ministry of Science and Technology and the Nanosciences African Network (NANOAFNET) launched jointly with ICTP and TWAS.

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The Associateship Scheme, one of ICTP's oldest programmes, provides support for active scientists from developing countries to maintain long-term, formal contact with the Centre.

The programme supports the visits of scientists to ICTP, exposing them to the most modern aspects of their scientific fields. In return, the Associates are expected to play a major role in building their scientific communities, enhancing physics and mathematics education at all levels, and planning research projects related to the specific needs of their home regions.