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Each summer, a group of very enthusiastic teenage mathematicians come to spend six weeks in Oxford, working intensively on mathematics. They are participants in the PROMYS Europe programme, now in its fourth year and modelled on PROMYS in Boston, which was founded in 1989. One of the distinctive features of the PROMYS philosophy is that the students spend most of the programme discovering mathematical ideas and making connections for themselves, thereby getting a taste for life as a practising mathematician.

Mornings start with a number theory lecture followed by a problems sheet, which sounds very traditional. But at PROMYS Europe, the lectures are always at least three days later than the material comes up on the problems sheets! This allows the students to have their own mathematical adventures, exploring numerical data and seeking patterns, then proving their own conjectures before the ideas are discussed in a lecture. Another crucial part of PROMYS Europe is the community feel. This year there are 21 students participating for the first time, and six who have returned for a second experience. In addition, there are eight undergraduate counsellors, who mentor the students. Each counsellor gives daily individual feedback to their three or four students, allowing each student to progress at their own rate and to focus on their own particular interests. The counsellors are also working on their own mathematics - this year they are teaching themselves about p-adic analysis. The returning students are working in small groups on research projects, and this year are also exploring group theory. The PROMYS Europe faculty are also available to the students for much of the time, reinforcing the supportive and collaborative nature of the programme.

The occasional guest lectures give the participants glimpses of current research mathematics and of topics beyond the programme. So far, in the first two weeks of the 2018 programme students have learned about Catalan numbers and quivers from Konstanze Rietsch (King's College London), and Andrew Wiles (University of Oxford) spoke about using analysis to solve equations.

As Andrew said: "PROMYS has done very impressive work over many years in creating an environment in Boston in which young mathematicians from all over the United States can immerse themselves in serious mathematical problems over several weeks, without distraction. It is an exciting development that PROMYS and the Clay Institute have now opened up the same opportunity in Europe."

The programme is very intensive, and students spend a great deal of time grappling with challenging mathematical ideas through the daily problem sets. At the weekends, students have extra-long weekend problem sets, but also have time to explore Oxford and the surrounding area. So far this has included a tour of Oxford colleges, the chance to go punting, and a visit to Bletchley Park and the National Museum of Computing.

As in previous years, this year's group is very international, coming from 15 countries across Europe. Students have to demonstrate a sufficient command of English when they are applying, and the international language of mathematics soon transcends linguistic and cultural differences once participants arrive!

Students apply to attend PROMYS Europe, and are selected based on their mathematical potential, as displayed in their work on a number of very challenging problems. This year there were more than 200 applications for around 21 places: the students who are invited to participate have produced exceptional work on the application problems, and displayed significant commitment and mathematical maturity. The programme is dedicated to the principle that no student should be unable to attend PROMYS Europe due to financial need, and is able to provide partial and full financial aid to students who would otherwise be unable to participate.

Alumni of PROMYS in Boston have gone on to achieve at high levels in mathematics. More than 50% of PROMYS alumni go on to earn a doctorate, and 150 are currently professors, many at top universities in the US. PROMYS Europe alumni are also proving to be dedicated to pursuing mathematical studies, with several now studying at the University of Oxford.  Of this year's eight counsellors, seven previously participated in PROMYS or PROMYS Europe as students, and four are Oxford undergraduates.

PROMYS Europe is a partnership of PROMYS, Wadham College and the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford, and the Clay Mathematics Institute.  The programme is generously supported by its partners and by further financial support from alumni of the University of Oxford and Wadham College, as well as the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research.

'To a physicist I am a mathematician; to a mathematician, a physicist'

7.00pm, 30 October 2018, Science Museum, London, SW7 2DD

Roger Penrose is the ultimate scientific all-rounder.  He started out in algebraic geometry but within a few years had laid the foundations of the modern theory of black holes with his celebrated paper on gravitational collapse. His exploration of foundational questions in relativistic quantum field theory and quantum gravity, based on his twistor theory, had a huge impact on differential geometry. His work has influenced both scientists and artists, notably Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher.

Roger Penrose is also one of the great ambassadors for science. In this lecture and in conversation with mathematician and broadcaster Hannah Fry he will talk about work and career.

This lecture is in partnership with the Science Museum in London where it will take place. Please email @email to register.

You can also watch online:

https://www.facebook.com/OxfordMathematics

https://livestream.com/oxuni/Penrose-Fry

The Oxford Mathematics Public Lectures are generously supported by XTX Markets.

John Ball is retiring as Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy, Oxford oldest scientific chair. In this interview with Alain Goriely he charts the journey of the applied mathematician.as the subject has developed over the last 50 years.

Describing his struggles with exams and his time at Cambridge, Sussex and Heriot-Watt before coming to Oxford in 1996, John reflects on how his interests have developed, what he prizes in his students, as well as describing walking round St Petersburg with Grigori Perelman, his work as an ambassador for his subject and the vital importance of family (and football).

Oxford Mathematician Ian Griffiths has won a Vice Chancellor's Innovation Award for his work on mitigation of arsenic poisoning. This work is in collaboration with his postdoctoral research associates Sourav Mondal and Raka Mondal, and collaborators Professor Sirshendu De and Krishnasri Venkata at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

As part of this award a short video was produced explaining the problem and its possible mathematical solution. 

Oxford Mathematician Heather Harrington has been awarded a Whitehead Prize by the London Mathematical Society (LMS) for her outstanding contributions to mathematical biology which have generated new biological insights using novel applications of topological and algebraic techniques. 

In the words of the citation Heather "has made significant advances through the application of ideas originating in pure mathematics to biological problems for which the techniques of traditional applied mathematics are inadequate. This has involved in particular the development of methods in algebraic statistics which allow one to characterize the qualitative behaviour of dynamical systems and networks, adapting approaches from algebraic geometry to test whether a given mathematical model is commensurate with a given set of experimental observations."

Oxford mathematician Sir Andrew Wiles, renowned for his proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, has been appointed by Her Majesty the Queen to be Oxford’s first Regius Professor of Mathematics.

The Regius Professorship – a rare, sovereign-granted title – was granted to Oxford’s Mathematical Institute as part of the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations. It is the first Regius Professorship awarded to Oxford since 1842.

Sir Andrew is the world’s most celebrated mathematician. In 2016 he was awarded the highest honour in mathematics, the Abel Prize, for his stunning proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, a conundrum that had stumped mankind for 350 years. In recognition of this transformative work, he was also awarded the Copley medal, the Royal Society’s oldest and most prestigious award.

Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, said: ‘I know my colleagues join me in offering our warmest congratulations to Sir Andrew on being named Oxford’s newest Regius Professor. It is a fitting recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field of mathematics.’

Professor Martin Bridson, Head of Oxford’s Mathematical Institute, said: ‘The award of the Regius Professorship to Oxford recognised both our pre-eminence in fundamental research and the enormous benefits that flow to society from mathematics.

‘It is entirely fitting that the first holder of this Professorship should be Sir Andrew Wiles. Nobody exemplifies the relentless pursuit of mathematical understanding in the service of mankind better than him. His dedication to solving problems that have defied mankind for centuries, and the stunning beauty of his solutions to these problems, provide a beacon to inspire and sustain everyone who wrestles with the fundamental challenges of mathematics and the world around us. We are immensely proud to have Andrew as a colleague at the Mathematical Institute in Oxford.’

Sir Andrew, who will remain the Royal Society Research Professor of Mathematics at Oxford and a Fellow of Merton College, dedicated much of his early career to solving Fermat’s Last Theorem. First formulated by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat in 1637, the theorem states:

There are no whole number solutions to the equation $x^n + y^n = z^n$ when n is greater than 2, unless xyz=0

Fermat himself claimed to have found a proof for the theorem but said that the margin of the text he was making notes on was not wide enough to contain it. Sir Andrew first became fascinated with the problem as a boy, and after years of intense private study at Princeton University, he announced he had found a proof in 1993, combining three complex mathematical fields – modular forms, elliptic curves and Galois representations.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, which presents the Abel Prize, said in its citation that ‘few results have as rich a mathematical history and as dramatic a proof as Fermat’s Last Theorem’. The proof has subsequently opened up new fields of inquiry and approaches to mathematics, and Sir Andrew himself continues to pursue his fascination with the subject. In his current research he is developing new ideas in the context of the Langlands Program, a set of far-reaching and influential conjectures connecting number theory to algebraic geometry and the theory of automorphic forms.

The new Regius Professorship in mathematics was one of a dozen announced by the government to celebrate the increasingly important role of academic research in driving growth and improving productivity during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The creation of Regius Professorships falls under the Royal Prerogative, and each appointment is approved by the monarch on ministerial advice.

Sir Andrew’s father, Maurice Wiles, was Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford from 1970 to 1991.

You can watch Sir Andrew's Oxford Mathematics London Public Lecture and interview with Hannah Fry here.

If you are ever in the centre of Oxford and are getting tired of the endless beautiful buildings, then make your way to Wytham Woods. Covering 1000 acres of ancient and beautiful woodland 3 miles NW of Oxford, Wytham is exceptionally rich in flora and fauna, with over 500 species of plants, a wealth of woodland habitats, and 800 species of butterflies and moths. And it is so wonderfully peaceful.

But if you don't make it down to the woods today, you'll notice that Wytham Woods has come to Dunsinane (aka the Andrew Wiles Building, home to Oxford Mathematics). Wytham are celebrating 75 years of scientific research with a photographic exhibition on the Mezzanine level. You are very welcome.

It is a little known (and entirely untrue) fact that Isaac Newton's alchemical investigations led him to a formula for a potion to cure baldness. Ten mathematicians from Oxford and UCL spent Saturday night (and Sunday morning) running around central London solving puzzles and gathering clues and ingredients to recreate this potion, before a pedalo race across the Serpentine to present a vial of the wonder cure to the President of the Royal Society.

This wasn't just for fun (although it was certainly enormously enjoyable): the event was raising funds for the charity Raise Your Hands. The other teams, comprising the City's finest, were vying for a trophy, and the Oxford and UCL team (aka 'Crackers') of academics was there to set the benchmark. Which they achieved coming in as honorary winners within minutes of the trophy winners from Cantab Capital.

The puzzle hunt was inspired by a similar charity fundraising event in New York. Teams started at Banking Hall at 20.00 hours on Saturday night, and the first teams reached the finish line at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Hyde Park just after 08.30 on Sunday morning. Each team had to collect three sets of alchemical information: from the criminal leader of the Chain Gang on the 7th floor of an NCP car park, from a celebrity businessman on level 32 of the Gherkin, and from a chemistry professor standing next to a statue of a goat in Spitalfields. 

All of which led the team to a street corner a few minutes from Tower Bridge where they had to assemble a marble run to decode the alchemical information into a list of ingredients. Three team members went off for a boat trip from Tower Pier, which led to a sequence of puzzles on the south side of the river. A quick call to criminal mastermind Ray then led the team to Newspaper Charlie on Tower Bridge, who was persuaded to hand over a newspaper containing clues to several more locations where the team found ingredients as diverse as apple pip oil and slumber dust. 

To get the butterfly tears, team members had to locate a group of mime artists on the South Bank near Waterloo Bridge and learn to mime, then race to Waterloo Vaults to add Newton's family crest to the walls of graffiti. Meanwhile other members of the team were getting apples in Borough Market, and solving a murder in a boxing club using a code written in blood on towels. No ordinary Saturday night.

From their various locations round London, the team gathered at the Institute of Engineering and Technology, to help police solve the mystery of the theft of Newton's flask. Having solved many further puzzles and pieced together the clues, the team identified the culprit and found the flask in her locker, along with the fourth and final piece of a puzzle cube, which revealed that a lab and chemist would be found at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. 

Cue a dash along to Carlton House Terrace, where the chemist combined the ingredients to produce a spectacular reaction and a long snaking coil of baldness-curing foam.  The team thought they'd finished, but instead had to take a vial of the potion along to the President of the Royal Society, who was fishing on the Serpentine.  Other teams were reaching the lake at a similar time, and there was a nail-biting pedalo race to the President to collect a certificate.  Then a final dash on a Santander bike to the Sackler Gallery, where the team found one last challenge: conduct an orchestra in a rendition of Bizet's Habanera, complete with violin solo.

Time for breakfast, while the other teams found their way to the finish line.  As though that wasn't exhausting enough, even after leaving to head home, the group on the train back to Oxford were working on filling in the details of one of the puzzles. The ultimate 'completer-finishers'.

This was an amazing experience, seeing London from a whole new perspective, with a diverse collection of ingenious puzzles, immersive theatre, and stamina and fitness elements - and all in a good cause. The Raise Your Hands fundraising page is still open. 

The Crackers team was captained by Oxford Prof Jon Chapman, and also featured Head of IT Waldemar Schlackow (Oxford), faculty members Ian Hewitt (Oxford), Vicky Neale (Oxford) and Karen Page (UCL), and graduate students James Aaronson (Oxford), Ed Goldsmith (UCL), Momchil Konstantinov (UCL), Johnny Nicholson (UCL) and Spike Smith (Oxford). 

Some of the team members are disappointed to confirm that Newton's potion does not in fact cure baldness.

Doing anything Saturday night? Well, if you are an Oxford Mathematician you might just be rushing around London learning to ballroom dance or trying to get your head around the sound wave patterns of a theremin or perhaps cracking a safe or two.

Why? The answer is Midnight Madness, a series of challenges which lead participants on an intellectual treasure hunt around London. Starting at 8pm on Saturday (May 19th), the madness lasts until high noon on Sunday. The Oxford team, together with colleagues from University College London will be competing against the brightest minds in the City. Will the academics prove superior or will years of mathematics have left them soft and contemplative against the sharp intellectual elbows of their opponents? The Oxford and UCL team has been selected via rigorous mathematical assessment (sort of) and features ageing Professors, puzzles gurus, as well as nimble (we hope) graduate students and our brilliant Head of IT. Hours have been spent coming up with a team name and logo (see image). But will it be enough? 

Midnight Madness is in aid of Raise Your Hands, which supports small, effective charities that improve the lives of children across the UK.

Public procurement – or government contracting – is critical to development, accounting for as much as 50% of government spending in developing countries. The procurement process is known to be highly prone to corruption, however corruption is difficult to detect or measure. A recent project led by the University of Oxford in collaboration with Sussex University and Government Transparency Institute has been using and implementing new methodologies for analysing large open public procurement datasets to detect ‘red flags’ that could indicate risks of corruption. Now, researchers from Oxford Mathematics are supporting the delivery of workshops in Africa to share these new methodologies and software tools with anti-corruption groups and researchers to enable them to analyse corruption risks in public procurement data.

Danny Parsons from the African Maths Initiative and Postdoctoral Research Assistant with Prof Balazs Szendroi at the Mathematical Institute in Oxford and Dr Elizabeth David-Barrett (Sussex University) delivered a 2-day workshop at the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Ghana on Analysing Public Procurement Data for Corruption Risks. This workshop came out of an earlier collaboration between Dr David-Barrett, Dr Mihaly Fazekas (Government Transparency Institute), Prof Szendroi and Danny Parsons on data driven approaches to measuring corruption risks in government contracting. During that project Danny Parsons worked on implementing new methodologies for detecting corruption risks into an open source front end to the R statistics language, to make it easier for researchers in political science, civil society organisations and anti-corruption agencies to detect patterns of corruption risk in public procurement data. In this latest workshop in Ghana, which brought together students and researchers in mathematical sciences and political science as well as civil society groups, Danny showed participants how they could use these recently developed software tools to investigate "red flag" indicators of corruption risk in large open public procurement data. The event highlighted the potential impact this could have on the fight against corruption in Africa - freely available software tools tailored to public procurement data and a growing movement towards governments opening up their data. Interestingly the workshop was picked up by local media (the Ghana News Agency and the Ghana Times) which stressed its relevance to ongoing discussions in Ghana around open government data and in particular the Right to Information Bill.