As guest lecturer at the Addis Ababa University: Stochastics from Dresden sparks great interest

Johannes Assefa from the Chair of Stochastic Analysis and Financial Mathematics has recently returned from a five-month guest lectureship at Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia. He brought back a wealth of didactic and cultural experiences – and a number of new contacts for future teaching and research collaborations.

Addis Ababa University is the largest institution for teaching and research in Ethiopia and offers a wide range of mathematical disciplines. Stochastics, however – as a relatively “modern” field within mathematics – has not yet been established there as an independent specialization.

Johannes Assefa is a researcher at the Chair of Stochastic Analysis and Financial Mathematics at TU Dresden. As the son of an Ethiopian mother, he feels a strong connection to the country. Part of his family lives in Addis Ababa. This personal link inspired his initiative to offer lectures in stochastics and financial mathematics at AAU. Supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and numerous colleagues, Johannes Assefa began his teaching stay in February 2025. His courses were met with great interest from both students and academic staff, although he found it necessary to adapt his teaching style over time. “My lectures were content-wise and methodologically aligned with the way I’ve experienced comparable courses in Germany – clearly structured, formal, and theory-driven. However, over the course of my teaching, it became evident that the learning environment in Ethiopia required a different didactic focus. The socio-economic background of many students leads to very diverse starting conditions, especially in terms of language proficiency. This called for more visual examples, detailed explanations, and a generally more illustrative approach,” Assefa explains.

The pronounced hierarchical structures within the Ethiopian higher education system also shaped the teaching and learning environment. Open, dialogical exchange with students – for instance, to receive feedback – proved more difficult than in the German context. At the same time, the unifying nature of mathematics as a language became evident. Despite cultural differences, it enables direct academic exchange – a vital foundation for international collaboration.

In addition to his academic work, the visit was marked by a particularly open and collegial working atmosphere. The AAU faculty maintains close personal connections beyond their professional roles – shared lunches, celebrations, and group excursions are part of everyday life. As a visiting scholar and “second-generation Ethiopian diaspora mathematician,” Johannes Assefa was warmly welcomed into the community.

“I hope my stay at AAU made a lasting contribution – not only through the lecture series itself, which will continue next year based on the structure I developed, but also by building long-term connections. There is great potential for future teaching and research cooperation – not only with AAU, but also with other Ethiopian universities. Especially in the fields of analysis and mathematical modelling, which are research priorities at AAU’s Department of Mathematics, there are many promising points of contact,” Assefa concludes.

“To round off this report, I would like to briefly introduce four AAU colleagues and their respective research areas, to give readers (especially those with a mathematical interest) a more concrete insight into selected focus areas at AAU:”

Dr. Bahru Tsegaye Leyew (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bahru-Leyew?ev=hdr_xprf)

Assistant Professor, AAU
Dr. Bahru’s research interests include fixed point theory and its applications, topological vector spaces and nonlinear operators, best approximation theory, soft set theory, and optimal control. Specifically, his work focuses on generalized multivalued orthogonal Suzuki-type contractions within the framework of orthogonal (ordered) generalized metric spaces. He establishes fixed point results and considers possible applications. Also, thanks to Dr. Bahru’s lighthearted and cheerful nature, grading exams almost feels like a break rather than a task!

Dr. Hunduma Legesse Geleta (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hunduma-Geleta)

Senior Staff Member, AAU
Dr. Hunduma current research focuses on the study of complex-valued harmonic functions through the lens of functional and harmonic analysis, with a special emphasis on Hilbert spaces and operator theory. His research supports applications to boundary value problems, spectral theory, and the analysis of elliptic partial differential equations and he currently supervises PhD students in harmonic analysis and PDEs.

Dr. Markos Fisseha Yimer (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Markos-Yimer)

Assistant Professor, AAU
Dr. Markos’s research lies in the area of Analysis and Partial Differential Equations, with a special emphasis on Hardy-type inequalities and the study of boundary value problems.

Dr. Tsegaye Gedif Ayele (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tsegaye-Ayele)

Associate Professor, AAU
Dr. Tsegaye’s research interest revolves around Partial Differential Equations, Boundary-Domain Integral Equations, Theory of Distributions and Function Spaces in PDEs; and Mathematical Modelling. His research includes both theoretical and applied aspects, and he has collaborated internationally through several fellowships, including from the Humboldt Foundation and the EMS Simons for Africa program. He is also an excellent conference companion with surprisingly impressive dance skills.

Contact:
Johannes Assefa
Chair of Stochastic Analysis and Financial Mathematics
Tel. +49 351 463-33914
Email: