Antoine Tambue

AIMS South Africa | 2007

Dr Antoine Tambue, a Cameroonian, graduated from AIMS in 2007. In 2010, he obtained a PhD in Applied Mathematics at Heriot-Watt University (UK) via an interdisciplinary collaborative project. He has remained affiliated to AIMS as a visiting lecturer and supervisor in its centres. He was a research associate at the University of Bergen from 2010 and was a research fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2014. In July 2014, Antoine was appointed as the first AIMS ARETÉ and the Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany) Junior Chair, a collaboration between AIMS-NEI that offers an opportunity for African scientists currently studying or working overseas, to return to Africa to continue their research work, contributing to Africa’s growth through research and teaching.

His research interest ranges from stochastic Partial Differential Equations (PDEs), computational finance and scientific computing. Key applications of his research, particularly in Africa, are oil and gas recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs, groundwater contamination and sustainable use of groundwater resources, storing greenhouse gases (e.g. CO2), radioactive waste in the subsurface, or mining heat from geothermal reservoirs. His goal is to accurately forecast energy production in oil, gas and geothermal reservoirs or predict the spatial and temporal spread of pollution in groundwater reservoirs.

“The African continent has great energy potential – fossil energy, hydro-electric, wind power, solar power and geothermal energy. However, most African countries suffer from an energy crisis,”says Antoine.

Antoine’s achievements will not only directly feed into efforts for environmental protection and waste management in Africa but also potentially open up new opportunities for African countries to develop their own industries, including petroleum exploration and the development of systems required for the exploitation of such natural energy resources.