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1. Activity Framework

Scope and role of CoRE-Math activities

This Strategic Activity Framework defines CoRE-Math’s core network-level activity domains (A–F). It establishes the reference structure used to classify, assess, and prioritise all potential funding engagements. The framework is not a catalogue of projects, but a specification of the types of activities CoRE-Math is set up to support. Funding opportunities are considered relevant only to the extent that they align meaningfully with one or more of these domains. The framework thus provides the structural basis for all subsequent analysis in the funding strategy.

CoRE-Math is a network-level initiative that enables and strengthens collaboration between universities in Africa and Europe. The activities described below, therefore, refer only to activities that require, or meaningfully benefit from, coordination at the network level. Delivery of core academic activities — such as running degree programmes, routine teaching, local research projects, or local outreach — remains the responsibility of individual nodes.

Activities are included only where CoRE-Math adds value by connecting institutions, enabling shared formats, facilitating Africa–Europe collaboration, or supporting coordination, quality, infrastructure, and visibility across the network. Activities that are purely node-level are deliberately excluded.

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A. Postgraduate training (MSc & PhD)

Postgraduate training encompasses network-level activities that enhance MSc and PhD education in mathematics across CoRE-Math, with a focus on the quality, coherence, and sustainability of training structures rather than the delivery of degree programmes.

This includes:

Advanced summer schools, including CIMPA-style and thematic schools, are organised across various nodes.

Shared or jointly delivered postgraduate courses, including intensive or hybrid formats.

MSc curriculum review and alignment across institutions, including regional benchmarking and preparatory work for collaborative pathways.

Doctoral supervision structures, including shared supervision models and supervision training.

Postgraduate mobility linked to network-level training activities.

Academic quality and coherence of training, including learning outcomes, progression structures, and supervision practices (not formal QA systems).

Gender integration: attention to access, progression, and retention of women MSc and PhD students; gender-aware supervision and equitable access to training and mobility.

Network added value: enables shared training formats, curriculum dialogue, and mobility — particularly through Africa–Europe collaboration — that individual nodes cannot sustain alone.

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B. Research collaboration

Research collaboration encompasses activities that create and sustain shared research environments in the mathematical sciences across the network, rather than focusing on individual research projects or grants.

This includes:

Thematic research programmes spanning multiple nodes.

Collaborative research workshops and meetings are closely tied to specific research agendas.

Short-term research visits embedded in collaborative programmes.

Africa–Europe research collaboration based on reciprocity and long-term capacity building.

Exploratory activities that seed new collaborative research directions.

Excludes: Study Groups and other outreach-driven formats.

Gender integration: active inclusion and visibility of women researchers in collaborative activities, including attention to participation and leadership roles.

Network added value: creates research environments and Africa–Europe collaboration that exist because of the network, beyond what individual projects can achieve.

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C. Skills development & teaching enhancement

Skills development & teaching enhancement covers structured, network-level development formats and support structures that strengthen professional, pedagogical, and career-related capabilities of postgraduate students, early-career researchers, and teaching staff.

This includes:

Cross-node mentoring and career-development structures, particularly targeting early-career researchers.

Pedagogical exchange and teaching-enhancement formats across institutions and contexts.

Shared digital capacity for teaching and learning, where coordinated approaches reduce duplication and support collaboration.

Development components embedded within network-level training (A) and research collaboration (B).

Excludes: generic skills courses or routine staff development delivered locally by nodes.

Gender integration: mentoring and career-development structures directed towards women researchers, with attention to progression, leadership, and visibility.

Network added value: enables cross-node mentoring, embedded development, and the exchange of practices between Africa and Europe, adding value beyond local provision.

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D. Institutional capacity, quality assurance & systems

Institutional capacity & systems covers the system-level conditions that enable training, research, and outreach activities to function sustainably across multiple institutions.

This includes four core system functions:

• Quality assurance frameworks for postgraduate programmes.

• Regional coordination and harmonisation mechanisms supporting comparability and collaboration.

• Governance and coordination structures for joint and network-level activities.

• Sustainability and system-support arrangements enabling organisational continuity.

Gender integration: attention to inclusive governance, representation, and institutional practices that support participation across activities.

Network added value: provides coordination, alignment, and governance structures that cannot be achieved at the node level alone.

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E. Shared infrastructure & enabling platforms

Shared infrastructure & enabling platforms cover network-level coordination, aggregation, and facilitation of access to research infrastructure that is primarily owned or hosted by individual CoRE-Math nodes, but where collective action adds value.

This is not about CoRE-Math owning, operating, or centrally managing infrastructure. It is about leveraging the network to improve access, reduce duplication, and strengthen negotiating positions, particularly in an Africa–Europe context.

This includes:

Computational tools and software: shared access, coordinated licensing approaches, and exchange of practices, including open-source alternatives.

High-performance and advanced computing (HPC): shared access arrangements, coordination of existing capacity, and network-level facilitation of cross-node use.

Journal access and Open Science: coordinated access strategies, collective positioning in negotiations, and network-level promotion of Open Science practices.

Digital platforms for collaboration and visibility: shared tools supporting training, research collaboration, Study Groups, outreach, and dissemination.

Gender integration: ensuring shared platforms and access arrangements are inclusive and support equitable participation across the network.

Network added value: coordinates access, aggregates demand, and facilitates the sharing of research infrastructure, enabling collaboration that individual nodes cannot achieve efficiently on their own.

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F. Outreach, industry & society

Outreach, industry & society encompasses network-level activities that connect CoRE-Math to non-university audiences, making mathematics visible, relevant, and intelligible beyond academia.

This includes the following outward-facing activity domains:

Research-based outreach formats, including Study Groups, where mathematicians from across the network engage with externally motivated problems from industry, the public sector, or society. These formats are exploratory and research-driven rather than outcome-guaranteed.

Schools’ outreach and pipeline-oriented activities, including mathematics competitions and coordinated engagement formats where network-level visibility or coordination adds value beyond local initiatives.

Research dissemination and public communication, including network-level communication of research outcomes, thematic areas, and societal relevance to non-specialist audiences, funders, and external stakeholders.

Gender integration: visible participation of women researchers and students across outreach, competitions, and dissemination activities.

Network added value: enables shared, visible outreach formats and collective external engagement that amplify reach, credibility, and impact beyond individual institutions.

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