I know we have all had that feeling of every year going faster as time moves on; for me, 2024 is no different. I am sure it should still be at least the first week of February? Turns out that according to a study by Bejan (2019), from Duke University, it is in fact true that days appear shorter as we get older! He identified the ageing brain as the reason we have an altered perception of time. Apparently, we are able to take in new information faster when we are younger, allowing the brain to process more within the same period. Good news is that we are in an exciting field in which our brains are stimulated all the time! 

I saw many of you at our annual conference hosted by UKZN in Durban last November. Thank you to the wonderful LOC team for their immense effort to make the conference a success. It was an excellent conference. May 2024 be a year of rest for you all! 

The 2025 conference will be hosted by UWC in beautiful Stellenbosch. Please note that the conference will be the week before our usual week due to venue availability – the week of 18 November. Diarise this now! 

The EC is excited to announce some new interest groups, namely Statistics Education, Forecasting and StatSNetSA. In addition, at the 2023 AGM it was suggested to move the conference proceedings submission to after the conference – this will be implemented this year. Get your submissions ready! 

As I have reported before, we are still actively working on a national strategy for mathematical sciences in South Africa. The June 2023 meeting strategy and attendees is available here. In early March 2024 a follow up brainstorming workshop was held in Midrand, Johannesburg and these ideas concreted in collaboration with SAMF – the South African Mathematical Foundation.  The issues were summarised into three main categories 1) learner training (school level from pre-school to high school), 2) teacher training, and 3) lecturer training/development. Within each of these, two initial focus points were identified. In learner training the profile of mathematics was discussed; that is, how do we make maths cool? In addition, the preparation of leaners for university was identified. Importantly, soft skills were identified as an issue. In teacher training the main issues needing attention are the syllabus of the BEd – how do we ensure there is enough mathematics and statistics at the right level, while producing enough teachers who are able to teach mathematics at school? Furthermore, the in-service teacher training needs to be streamlined and made effective. Lastly, lecturer development had two main issues highlighted, namely capacity and funding. For capacity of academic staff we need to build in-house, but this is often challenging within our university systems. In addition, the funding avenues currently available such as NGA-MaSS and COE-MaSS will not be around indefinitely but have been incredibly instrumental in our community. Additional opportunities need to be sought out to sustain the growth happening at the moment. This project is a big undertaking which will need hands and funding. Please let us know if you would like to play a part in the process. 

Lastly, Emeritus Professor Paul Fatti celebrates his 80th birthday this year. Professor Fatti has a long association with SASA, including being past president of the Association, a Fellow and Honorary Member of SASA, chairing the Herbert Sichel Medal committee, amongst many other contributions. The SASA executive and membership extend our warm congratulations and wish him many more happy birthdays.

All the best for 2024!