There is always more to learn with Prof. Inger Fabris-Rotelli

Prof. Inger Fabris-Rotelli, associate professor at the University of Pretoria in the Department of Statistics

As the country celebrates the plight of women and gender equality during the month of August, Enterprises University of Pretoria’s Research and Consulting Solutions division will highlight some of the incredible women and specialists in STEM that we have the privilege to partner and collaborate with. 

Prof. Inger Fabris-Rotelli is an associate professor at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Statistics with research interests in machine learning, image and signal processing, spatial statistics and robotics.

For Fabris-Rotelli, her love of mathematics began when she was in high school and was encouraged by her parents and teacher. “I had a wonderful teacher, Mrs Atmore, and when I found out that one could do a degree in mathematics as a focus, I was thrilled and pursued this. I am really blessed to have had parents who supported me in pursuing a degree only because I enjoy mathematics.” 

Her first step towards this was studying and completing a BSc in Applied Mathematics, followed by two honours degrees in Applied Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics. She then completed an MSc in Applied Mathematics and finally acquired a PhD in Mathematical Sciences, which was completed at the University of Pretoria. “During the years when I was doing my honours degrees, the Head of Department at Statistics offered me a junior lecturer position. I always felt welcomed and inspired in the department so I took up the opportunity. At the end of my Masters, I was given a permanent position as lecturer in the department and have progressed since then to Associate Professor,” she said speaking of her journey from student to academic.

Although many people are often daunted by numbers and mathematics, Prof. Fabris-Rotelli still displays the same love and excitement for mathematics as she did when she was younger, and this certainly translates to her work as a lecturer. She mentioned that what she enjoys the most is the creativity and space to pursue what she loves: “Academia is thrilling. We lecture a lot and mark a lot! But we make a difference in people’s lives.” She explained: “I particularly like supervising postgraduates, from honours to doctoral level. I love the research that happens at these levels and the growth that one sees in the individual through that personal relationship.” With this, she emphasised that there is not one aspect that she is proud of in her career but rather the small steps taken every day by working hard towards learning and self-discovery. 

With women making up less than half of professionals in STEM, it can be a challenge for them to find support and excel in their respective fields. Fabris-Rotelli notes that the presence of women at higher professional levels was less prominent but is now slowly growing. She, however, highlighted that the statistics community in the country has been impressive in being more gender inclusive compared to other industries in STEM, which in turn has inspired even more women to venture into the field because of the women who are also mentors, lecturers and supervisors. 

Staying motivated is hardly a task for Fabris-Rotelli who works in spatial statistics and image processing, which provide real-life applications for the theoretical models they develop. “There is always another idea to work through and there are always postgraduate students to bring into the team.” And when looking to the future, she added: “Our field is closely linked with data science. The need for industry and academia to develop stronger computing skills is clear and as academics, we have to stay on top of this.”

And if she could give advice to young Fabris-Rotelli? “Keep going, you are on the right path!”