News - Department of Maths and Stats local

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.

Speaker: Prof. Peter Ashwin

Abstract

As researchers, we routinely take on problems that we cannot solve. Too little progress can become demoralizing and defeating. On the other hand, maybe we just lack a skill or knowledge that will enable us to easily solve the problem. How can we tell the difference? How long should one battle against a problem? Can we find a way around to solve a related but different problem? How can we identify and develop the skills that we are lacking? Are we just diverting ourselves by putting off doing something (e.g. studying, talking to someone) that may really help but is out of our comfort zone? In this session, we will discuss some common roadblocks to research progress and some practical ideas to overcome them.

View the slides from the session here.

Speaker: Prof. Layal Hakim

About the Speaker

Layal Hakim is an associate professor and a director of education and student experience in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Exeter. In 2010, she graduated with a Bachelors of Science (Hons) in Mathematics from the Department of Mathematics Sciences at Brunel University. Shortly after, she started a PhD in the same department and researched in the applied mathematics field of Integral Equations in Fracture Mechanics. On completing her PhD, she worked at Imperial College as a postdoctoral researcher and teaching fellow, where she taught in the Department of Computing and Department of Mathematics. Since joining the University of Exeter in May 2018, she led and lectured modules across all stages of the undergraduate programme, and was actively involved in the design and development of the resources. She champions personalised learning whereby all students can identify their own strengths and weaknesses as well as the support required to help them advance in their education. She led and worked on several education research projects, where innovative approaches were introduced with the aim to make education and the learning journey inclusive and enjoyable. She is a member of national and international level committees and groups around higher education such as the Global Classroom and the Committee of Women and Diversity in Mathematics. This talk will give an overview of Layal’s journey and will give an overview of the project she worked on and other university-level and external activities she is involved in.  

View the recording of the talk here.

Speaker: Prof. Peter Ashwin

Abstract

As you develop as a researcher, you will probably be expected to undertake an ever wider range of activities and to develop a range of disparate skills. In this session, I plan to discuss how these skills might fit into a “research lifecycle” – from the first germs of an idea to publication and beyond to wider influence. We can then use this to talk about the following questions, with mathematical sciences in mind:

• What does it mean to lead or manage research rather than do it? Is there a difference?
• What is the difference between writing a dissertation, a paper, a review, an outreach material or a grant proposal?
• How can I use this to help prioritise activities about what needs (and does not need) to be done right now?

View the recording of the talk here.

The Research Students’ Conference (RSC) in Probability and Statistics is an annual conference for postgraduate research students in all areas of probability and statistics. The 2024 edition was hosted by PhD students within the department on 20-24th August 2024. See their site for more information!

There will be a one-day workshop on 24 July 2024 and online, focused on how interactive theorem provers, like Lean and Isabelle, can be used in mathematics and computer science. This event is ideal for educators and researchers who use deductive proof.

No prior experience is necessary: the day starts and ends with hands-on sessions that provide practical experience for those unfamiliar with Lean.

To register and for more details see:

https://exlean.org/workshop-interactive-theorem-proving-in-education-and-research-july-2024/#

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