Proposal Description

Current applications of statistics in industry and government require substantial interdisciplinary skills, and solving many current issues such as in climate change mitigation, geopolitical dependencies and artificial intelligence requires a global outlook and a focus on effecting change and having impact.

This session will explore the implications of such global connections both for student education and at university strategic level. We will discuss ways to use data in experiential learning approaches in student education for the development of key student competencies such as collaboration, problem solving and data storytelling, and how these experiences foster students as global citizens. Topics will include active and experiential learning approaches such as hackathons, authentic assessments, challenge-led learning, and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).

We will also discuss the importance of strategic partnerships at institutional level in addressing global challenges and in joining forces for equipping our students with the necessary skills as global citizens. Universities have the potential to be a globally connected superpower. This session will explore pooling resources and leveraging global partnerships at institutional level for impactful data science and statistics projects in addressing global challenges.

The session will consist of the following session members that cover the full range of statistics, data science, computer science and mathematics, as well as a variety of statistical interests; they are also diverse in terms of gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity etc.

• Najmeh Nakhaeirad, University of Pretoria

• Winnie Nakiyingi, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Research and Innovation Centre

• Jose Quenum, Namibia Institute of Science and Technology

• Anna Kaduma Gumbie, University of the Witwatersrand

• Renette Blignaut, University of the Western Cape

with session organisers

Rukia Nuermaimaiti, Imperial College London

Justine Nasejje, University of the Witwatersrand

Pierre-Philippe Dechant, University of Leeds

Nationalities include Uganda, Germany, Iran, China, Benin, Tanzania and South Africa, whilst institutional affiliations also include Namibia, Rwanda and the UK. The line-up includes programme leaders for various degrees from a BSc Data Science to an industry-directed Masters programme, a variety of student education and research responsibilities, and membership of different professional bodies from Computer Science to Mathematics to Statistics, including the Vice-President of the South African Statistical Association.

This diversity and range of responsibilities is a good foundation for a session on strategic aspects of global citizenship and global partnerships in the data space.