Provisional plenary speakers
Prof Swantje Bargmann
(University of Wuppertal, Germany)
Bio: Swantje Bargmann is a full professor at University of Wuppertal in Germany; after having hold a full professor position at TU Hamburg (jointly with Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon), an assistant professor position at TU Dortmund as well as guest professor positions at Chalmers University (Sweden) and University of Cape Town (South Africa). She studied mathematics at TU Kaiserslautern, where she also completed her doctorate in 2008. Her research work focuses on mathematical modeling of material behavior of solids and has received several awards, e.g Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize (DFG), Richard von Mises Prize (GAMM), Science Prize (Industrieclub Düsseldorf), Scientific Prize (Esaform) as well as scholarships from e.g., Japan Socienty for the Promotion of Science, National Research Foundation of Korea and Heinrich-Hertz-Foundation.
Prof Bengt Fornberg
(University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
Bio: Prof Bengt Fornberg's main research interests are in developing, analyzing, and implementing numerical methods, in particular for solving PDEs to high orders of accuracy. Such methods include pseudospectral and high accuracy finite difference methods, and methods based on radial basis functions (RBFs). Their main application areas include computational fluid dynamics, geophysical and astrophysical flows, and seismic exploration. Another interest area is computational methods in the complex plane (such as for solving the Painlevé equations, and for more general quadrature and differentiation).
Prof Natasha Flyer
(University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
Bio: Prof Natasha Flyer is a senior researcher affiliated with the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Her work focuses on the development and analysis of high-order and meshfree numerical methods, particularly radial basis function (RBF) and spectral techniques, for solving partial differential equations arising in geophysical fluid dynamics and atmospheric modelling. She has contributed extensively to advancing global shallow-water and dynamical-core models, bridging applied mathematics, scientific computing, and climate science.
Prof Sudan Hansraj
(University of KwaZulu-Natal)
Bio: Prof Sudan Hansraj matriculated from Mountview Secondary in 1983. He then obtained a Teachers qualification from the Springfield College of Education and in this time developed an interest in the Mathematics Olympiad. While serving as mathematics teacher at Centenary High School, he obtained a BSc in Mathematics and Applied Mathematics from UNISA. Thereafter he enrolled for the Honours degree at UNISA in Pure Mathematics taking papers in Galois Theory, Measure Theory and Differential Equations. While teaching at the Trenance Park Secondary School, he became interested in General Relativity, after having studied it at Undergraduate level and consequently began a Masters degree in Relativity. This was completed in 1996. He immediately continued with doctoral work and his thesis “Exact Solutions and Conformal Transformations in General Relativity” earned him the PhD from the University of Natal in 1999. In the meantime he served as Lecturer in Mathematics at the Springfield College and subsequently the Durbanse Onderwyskollege. Since 2001 he joined the full time staff of the University of KwaZulu-Natal as a senior lecturer. For recreation he plays sport and is heavily involved in the promotion of recreational mathematics among school children.
Prof Dephney Mathebula-Periola
(University of Fort Hare)
Bio: Prof Dephney Mathebula-Periola is a Full Professor of Mathematics at the University of Fort Hare and the first South African to obtain a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Venda. Her research focuses on Biomathematics, particularly on the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases. She has presented her work at international and local conferences and published extensively in high-impact journals. Prof Mathebula-Periola was honoured with the 2025 Mail & Guardian Power of Women Award in the STEMi category and recognised among the Top 100 Career Women in Africa (2024) for her remarkable contributions to science, leadership, and mentorship. She is passionate about advancing women in STEM and nurturing the next generation of African scientists.
Prof Paul Milewski
(Penn State University, USA)
Bio: Prof Paul Milewski is Professor and Head of the Department of Mathematics at Pennsylvania State University, USA. He works in applied mathematics with a focus on nonlinear waves, fluid mechanics, and computational modelling. After completing his PhD at MIT, he held positions at Stanford University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison before moving to the University of Bath, where he later served as Head of Mathematical Sciences. His research combines analytical and numerical approaches to understand complex wave phenomena in fluids and related systems. He is a recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award..
Prof Geoff Vasil
(University of Edinburgh, UK)
Bio: Prof Vasil did his PhD in Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics at the University of Colorado. Before that, he studied mixtures of Pure and Applied Mathematics, and Theoretical Physics. He works on topics surrounding Physical Applied Maths, Fluid Mechanics, Plasma Physics, Solar Magnetohydrodynamics and Mathematical Computing.
Since 2012, he has been a founding core-team member of the open-source Dedalus project: http://dedalus-project.org
Recently, Dr Vasil has been expanding into new areas. On the more pure side, the rich geometric and combinatorial structures surrounding orthogonal polynomials and special functions (useful, e.g., for the computational framework underlying Dedalus). This includes applications to probability, combinatorics, optimisation and mathematical physics. Further on the applied side, Dr Vasil has been studying differential equations on networks with contiguous edges. This work has wide-ranging applications in mathematical biology and condensed matter physics.