The main focus of the zlam-erce centre is to speed up the dynamic of achieving an outstanding level in education and research in mathematics in the sub-Saharan region by providing an attractive and stimulating scientic environment for graduate and PhD students from West and Central Africa.

The Laboratory of Applied Mathematics of Ziguinchor (zlam) which will host the erce centre is composed of 6 professors, 9 lecturers, 5 postdoctoral students and 22 PhD students. The Lab- oratory of Applied Mathematics of Ziguinchor currently runs 2 Masters and 9 PhD programmes. To increase and diversify the education in its PhD and Masters programmes, the zlam regularly organizes cimpa research schools, African mathematical training schools (ema), cimpa courses, conferences and workshops. These activities create opportunities to attract students from the sub- Saharan region in the Masters and PhD programmes oered by the zlam and often lead to thesis and dissertations under joint supervision with European or African colleagues present for the occasion. Over the past four years, 10 students from others countries of Africa have been enrolled to zlam’s Masters and PhD programmes after such activities. These enrollments of foreign African students are, in many cases, facilitated by funds from Simons Foundation AMP-grants of the nlaga and prema projects. An illustrative example of such success story is Ibrahim Hamidine, the Ibni Prize winner 2018. Hamidine is from Niger, he was spotted following a cimpa research school and have been co-supervised by Alain Yger (Univ. Bordeaux, France) and Salomon Sambou (Univ. Ziguinchor, Senegal) at Ziguinchor, with a grant from the nlaga-Simons project led by Diaraf Seck (Univ. Dakar, Senegal).

The zlam-erce centre of Ziguinchor comes to deepen and consolidate the described strategy by beneting from current European schemes (cimpa research schools, ema schools, ems-Simons for Africa, ems-nancial support, …) to achieve outstanding research and education activities which attract students from other regions and countries of Africa and enroll them in its current Masters and PhD programmes with scholarships from African governments or other African dedicated mathematical projects (nlaga and prema projects funded by the Simons Foundation, cea-mitic project funded by the World Bank,….).