News - Department of Maths and Stats local

In preparation:

Fill in this form by 12 Oct. to indicate your interest in attending and help us pick a suitable time slot, meeting format, topics, etc. 

This is being organised on the initiative of the DORI and the ESE research cluster.

How can creative thinking enhance your research communication? Join us for a short one-day workshop where you will get the opportunity to explore and experiment with creative techniques for communication alongside other ECRs in a cross-disciplinary, and collaborative environment. This workshop will emphasise the central role of perspective. The perspectives of audiences and researchers need to be understood if research communication is to be successful. You will learn key concepts and skills, and explore how these can be applied to your own research. The day will include: drawing, collage, LEGO, and more….

Penryn Campus 27th November, 10:00 – 15:00 

Streatham Campus 5th December, 10:00 – 15:00

BOOK HERE: Creative Communication Workshop

Organiser: Laura Byrne L.Byrne@exeter.ac.uk

This activity is a Researcher-led Initiative that has been funded by the University of Exeter Researcher Development and Research Culture team.

Postdoc Appreciation Week (PAW) is around the corner again 15-19 Sep 2025, when we recognise, acknowledge and celebrate the hard work that post-docs and ECRs dedicate to research, teaching, mentoring, outreach and so much more.

Join some of the events and initiatives planned for this week locally, nationally and internationally!

ECRN Maths & Stats PAW 2025: a career-development seminar and discussion (with refreshments) 17 Sep.

UoExeter PAW 2025: a couple of online seminars on 17 & 18 Sep and a recognition initiative.

UK PAW 2025: a number of online events on 15 Sept.

USA PAW 2025 a number of online events throughout the week.

Take some time to brush up on the University’s initiatives and commitments to help you with your professional development, e.g. Initiatives to support ECRs @ University of Exeter.

Add this career-development seminar and discussion targeted at ECRs and PGRs addition to your National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW) calendar.

Speaker: Prof. Peter Ashwin (Director of Research and Impact)

Abstract: One of the most difficult challenges in academic work is to prioritise and manage workload so that the most important things get done in good time. But what is important may seem quite subjective, and multiple demands from different sources compete for your attention at the same time. This is especially difficult for a researcher where you need to set and follow an agenda that pushes the boundaries of what is possible, and more is always possible. In this session we will explore some of these challenges and share some possible strategies for coping with the challenges.

Event Details:

• Date: 17 June 2025
• Time: 9:30 – 11:00 (refreshments after until 11:30)
• Venue: Harrison 107 @ on Teams (come in person if you can for networking and sweets)
• Sign-up: Accept the “Balancing workload” Teams invitation in your inbox (if you’ll be joining in-person). If you haven’t got the event invite, request one at ecrn-ms-committee@exeter.ac.uk.

A panel discussion and networking lunch

We are joining forces with BMC-BAMC to host a panel discussion with invited speakers from academia, industry and research funders. The panellists will share views and perspectives on diverse career paths for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) — challenges, opportunities, and practical realities. They will provide a variety of perspectives from different career stages, from recent award holders to established senior academics. You’ll have the chance to submit questions when you sign up, so the conversation speaks directly to what matters most to you.

Sign up for free by 15 June, regardless of whether you are attending the BMC-BAMC events or not. (For last-minute tickets email the ECRN committee directly — first come first serve.)

Panel:

• Megan Maunders, Wellcome Trust
• Gwyneth Stallard, Open University 
• Xue-Mei Li, Imperial College London, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland)– withdrawn
• Rachel Newton, King’s College London
• Wayne Artur, UKAEA
• Chair: Dimitar G Vlaykov

Event Details:

• Date: 26 June 2025
• Time: 11:30 – 12:30 (lunch from 12:40)
• Venue: Forum Seminar Room 1-3
• Sign up here by 15 June and submit your questions

ECRN Seminar & Discussion

Join the ECRN for Maths & Stats for an informal seminar and networking exploring how AI and machine learning are shaping the future of research. Our guest speaker, Rashmi Misra, will start us off by discussing the current limitations and possibilities of AI/ML in research. This will be followed by a Q&A and a facilitated discussion. 

We’re inviting short contributions from you. Bring a lightning talk, informal remarks, or just some discussion points — all are welcome. For example,

• How are you using AI tools in your research?
• What about research-adjacent activities (emails, papers, scheduling, meetings, reviewing)?
• How should we adapt our methods and skill acquisition for an AI-rich future?
• How do we need to position our skills and expertise to remain hireable in an increasingly competitive and dynamic research landscape?

This will be a hybrid event, with the speaker joining online from the US. We strongly encourage you to attend in person to fully engage with the discussion (and the coffee and snacks 😉).

Sign up by 15 June!

So we can order enough snacks or send you the link to join online.

Event Details:

• Date: 20 June, 2025
• Time: 3:00 pm – 5:30 pm
• Venue: Laver LT6
• Keynote speaker: Rashmi Misra  
• Submit a short contribution: lightning talk, informal remarks, or just discussion points
• Sign up here by 15 June
• Chairs: Manohar Teja Kalluri, Dimitar G. Vlaykov

Funded by the London Mathematical Society and the Department and following the joint BMC-BAMC conference, we will be hosting an EDI career’s insight event B^4 – STEM-ing the gap from 13:00–16:30pm on 26 June 2025. The shape of this afternoon event is to highlight diversity in STEM careers and how one can transition from academia to industry and vice versa.  We will have a series of short talks by guest speakers from industry and academia, followed by a panel discussion.  For further details and to sign up, please see: B^4 – STEM-ing the Gap

Speaker: Prof. Andrew Hillier

Abstract

“I have been involved in a number of different activities that I think may be of interest to this audience in terms of how they relate to getting ahead in academia.  Some of these experiences include taking on part-time teaching roles as a postdoc (both Kyoto U and Cambridge), being awarded a research fellowship and leveraging this into a permanent post, various admin roles (fellow of a Cambridge college, working as the Director of Global Engagement for the department. co-director of ExCMS) and time spent on grant panels. All of these have had different but notable influence on how my career has developed as well as often teaching me things I wish I had known much earlier. What I plan to do in this talk is provide a description of my career to date, then present different aspects of my career, how they might be relevant to you and pose some questions with the aim of sparking discussion.”

We are looking for possible images (of some mathematical relevance and CC-BY copyright free) to go on the mug, along with the inscription BMC-BAMC 2025 Exeter, for the conference which takes place 23-26 June 2025. If you have a suggestion for a design that you would like to be immortalised in this fashion, please send an image (approx 2700×1100 pixels jpg or png- can be either full colour, or two colour) to P.Ashwin@exeter.ac.uk by 2nd December 2024. Your BMC-BAMC committee will then meet to select a winner. The winner with the chosen design will get three mugs as a prize, and the knowledge that similar mugs will sit in the offices of mathematicians across the country for many years to come.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Nicolas Robles

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---