ABOUT NITheCS
NITheCS was officially formed in April 2021. This marked the completion of a four-step process to transform the National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP) into NITheCS. Read the details of the transformation process in our Roadmap or read about our history.
Our vision
Our vision is to be a leading African Institute of Theoretical and Computational Sciences recognised for its excellent and impactful research, training, and engagement programmes.
Our mission
Our mission is to build human and research capacity in Theoretical and Computational Sciences and to enhance scientific innovation, transformation, and socio-economic development.
NITheCS is a multidisciplinary and multi-themed institute. Our eight themes are:
• Theoretical Physics
• Mathematics
• Statistics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Quantitive Biology (including Bioinformatics)
• Quantitative Finance
• Earth Systems and Climate Change Modelling
• Data Science
NITheCS is also an “undisciplinary” institute.
We embrace a foundation of openness in terms of science, data, and source
“Open science is defined as an inclusive construct that combines various movements and practices aiming to make multilingual scientific knowledge openly available, accessible and reusable for everyone, to increase scientific collaborations and sharing of information for the benefits of science and society, and to open the processes of scientific knowledge creation, evaluation and communication to societal actors beyond the traditional scientific community.”
~ https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381148
LOCATION
NITheCS has regional centres at three locations:
- Stellenbosch University (SU)
- University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) and
- University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).
GOVERNANCE
The governance system is that of a national Centre of Excellence (CoE), which is subject to the notarisation of a binding contract between the granter, the National Research Foundation (NRF), and the grantee, namely Stellenbosch University.
NITheCS operates in an independent environment, with Stellenbosch University providing administrative support. This is critical in the South African (and African) context to ensure non-alliance with a particular institution and to develop an independent identity. A consortium agreement between the hosts of the three regional centres governs the interaction between the regional centres.
