Three PhD candidates in Mathematics and Statistics have successfully defended their doctoral theses at the University of Rwanda, marking an important milestone in the University’s efforts to strengthen advanced research and doctoral training under the UR-Sweden Program.
The three defenses were held over a six-day period and represent the first group of candidates to reach the thesis-defense stage among the five PhD programmes established at UR with support from the UR-Sweden Program.
The milestone reflects the growing capacity of the University of Rwanda to train highly skilled researchers while contributing to the development of a strong research and academic workforce in Rwanda.
Top row, from left: Jean de Dieu Niyigena, Nyandwi Bosco, Ngendahayo Jean Pierre who defended their PhD Thesis. Bottom photo: UR-Sweden Program coordination staff and staff from the School of Science who accompanied the PhD candidates throughout their journey.
The first defense was conducted by Dr Jean de Dieu Niyigena, an academic staff member at the College of Science and Technology (CST), who successfully defended his research titled “Misclassification Probability Approximation of a Quadratic Classifier with Repeated Measures.”
His research was followed by that of Nyandwi Bosco, who successfully defended her PhD thesis in Mathematics titled “Extending Pólya’s Shire Theorem to Differential Operators with Monomial and Constant Coefficients.”
The third candidate, Ngendahayo Jean Pierre, successfully defended his thesis titled “Regularization Methods for Inverse Heat Conduction Problems: Analysis and Applications.” His research focuses on innovative approaches to solving inverse heat conduction problems, with potential applications in industrial process control.
A milestone for doctoral training and research
The three successful defenses were celebrated as a significant achievement for the College of Science and Technology and the wider University of Rwanda.
Speaking during an event held to celebrate the milestone, Prof Etienne Ruvebana, Senior Research Coordinator, congratulated the three researchers and described their achievement as an important step in the development of doctoral education and research at the University.
“This is an important milestone, not only for the three PhD candidates, but also for the College of Science and Technology and the University of Rwanda. Their achievement demonstrates that the PhD journey is achievable and that the structures we have put in place to support doctoral training are producing results,” said Ruvebana.
Prof Ruvebana explained that the celebration was designed to go beyond recognizing the three candidates. It also provided an opportunity for other PhD students, supervisors and programme leaders to learn from the candidates’ experiences and reflect on what contributes to successful completion of doctoral studies.
“We wanted to celebrate this achievement, but also to use the experience of these candidates as a learning opportunity for other PhD students and programme leaders. Their journey can provide valuable lessons for those who are still progressing through their doctoral studies,” added Ruvebana.