Professor Anass Bayaga is a distinguished academic specialising in neuro-cognitive STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) enhancement and human-computer interaction, and is now the newest UWC Education Faculty team member.
Prof Bayaga’s research spans multiple disciplines, including actuarial science, mathematics, statistics, information systems, and privacy in cyberspace.
He has studied at Leicester University (United Kingdom), the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), and the University of Fort Hare (South Africa). At the start of his academic career, Prof Bayaga said he was interested in Mathematics but not in the conventional sense.
“I was thinking of how the brain processes mathematics or computational reasoning. And that led me into looking at mathematics, not just numbers and symbols, but how does the brain process mathematics? So in a loose term, that possibly would be cognition.”
He said that led him to ultimately broaden his research scope: “The way the brain processes mathematics cannot strictly be assigned to one discipline. It's interdisciplinary, and it ranges from cognitive science to neuroscience. We even draw from psychology, information systems and computer science to understand how the brain understands mathematics.”
He is settling in at UWC and is excited about the future of teaching, research outputs, and continuous learning.
Professor Bayaga has an academic dream of sorts that he would be able to break the current barriers and launch a new Bachelor's programme.
“Combining STEAM with cognitive science first of all tells us that we cannot look at them as a silo. One day, we should have a bachelor's degree in STEAM. At the moment we don't have it, because the argument is that we cannot understand the world and how the world runs on the basis of just one leg of mathematics or on the basis of just one leg of physics. We can better understand how the world works if you combine these disciplines.”
Prof Bayaga was involved with several professional organisations, such as the Association for Information Systems Southern African Chapter (AISSAC) and the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA).
He’s also served as a Fulbright researcher at George Washington University, focusing on cognitive enhancement via mobile computing, and served as guest editor on a similar topic in the South African Journal of Higher Education while currently serving as guest editor for Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning, as well as with the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology.
Currently, Prof Bayaga is engaged in several interdisciplinary research projects, locally and internationally, with a particular emphasis on cognitive (neuro) STEM and human-computer interaction/adoption, and the application of digital technologies (AI-deep learning, deep neural networks, emerging technologies) in improving teaching, assessment and learning.
His research aims to explore the connections between mathematics and STEAM, focusing on enhancing cognitive skills such as spatial visualisation, mental rotations, attention, memory, information processing and retention to improve numerical and computational decision-making processes.
Prof Bayaga’s research spans multiple disciplines, including actuarial science, mathematics, statistics, information systems, and privacy in cyberspace.
He has studied at Leicester University (United Kingdom), the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), and the University of Fort Hare (South Africa). At the start of his academic career, Prof Bayaga said he was interested in Mathematics but not in the conventional sense.
“I was thinking of how the brain processes mathematics or computational reasoning. And that led me into looking at mathematics, not just numbers and symbols, but how does the brain process mathematics? So in a loose term, that possibly would be cognition.”
He said that led him to ultimately broaden his research scope: “The way the brain processes mathematics cannot strictly be assigned to one discipline. It's interdisciplinary, and it ranges from cognitive science to neuroscience. We even draw from psychology, information systems and computer science to understand how the brain understands mathematics.”
He is settling in at UWC and is excited about the future of teaching, research outputs, and continuous learning.
Professor Bayaga has an academic dream of sorts that he would be able to break the current barriers and launch a new Bachelor's programme.
“Combining STEAM with cognitive science first of all tells us that we cannot look at them as a silo. One day, we should have a bachelor's degree in STEAM. At the moment we don't have it, because the argument is that we cannot understand the world and how the world runs on the basis of just one leg of mathematics or on the basis of just one leg of physics. We can better understand how the world works if you combine these disciplines.”
Prof Bayaga was involved with several professional organisations, such as the Association for Information Systems Southern African Chapter (AISSAC) and the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA).
He’s also served as a Fulbright researcher at George Washington University, focusing on cognitive enhancement via mobile computing, and served as guest editor on a similar topic in the South African Journal of Higher Education while currently serving as guest editor for Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning, as well as with the International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology.
Currently, Prof Bayaga is engaged in several interdisciplinary research projects, locally and internationally, with a particular emphasis on cognitive (neuro) STEM and human-computer interaction/adoption, and the application of digital technologies (AI-deep learning, deep neural networks, emerging technologies) in improving teaching, assessment and learning.
His research aims to explore the connections between mathematics and STEAM, focusing on enhancing cognitive skills such as spatial visualisation, mental rotations, attention, memory, information processing and retention to improve numerical and computational decision-making processes.
