Mathematical Institute Bulletin

Ben Walker uses AI. His research field is AI. What's his take on its mathematical talents?

Inspired by Sergio in Mathematical Biology, we are making a film about how mathematics is expressed or conceived in different languages. As part of that, we would like speakers of as many different languages as possible to say how a selection of terms are expressed in their native tongue. Literally 60 second work (if you can remember the translation). Please email Dyrol.

Image: Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel

Planets Day is a one-day meeting for anyone interested in how planets work, how to observe them, and how they could support the development of complex life. Planets Day 2 will be held in the Cheng Yu Tung Building, Jesus College, on Monday, 16th March.

Planets Day is free to attend, including servery lunch and a reception. To confirm catering and because venue capacity may be limited, we ask all attendees to please register in advance at this link by 23 February.

More information will be released on the Planets Day 2 website.

While most young people recover well after a head injury, some endure lasting impairments and difficulties. At the moment, we do not understand why this happens.

This study, conducted by the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences here in Oxford, aims to help predict how well a child will recover, and identify those who may need support earlier. To do this, we need healthy volunteers for comparison. We are looking for 11–18-year-olds, via their parents, who are actively involved in sport and have not had a previous head injury.

More information is available on the study website, in our BBC article, or by contacting @email directly.

Last year BBC Breakfast launched a puzzle advent calendar in collaboration with GCHQ. It was a huge hit and so they want to follow it up a bi-weekly challenge (probably Monday and Friday) in the Spring, set by a panel of experts/quizzers. They are "are hoping to recruit around a dozen of the best minds in the country to help set these challenges", in this case female minds for gender balance. 

The plan is for contributors (in total) to submit a list of 3-5 puzzles regularly and the presenters will read them out (so no audio required). They are offering a disturbance fee of £75 per puzzle.

Contact Dyrol if you are interested.

Image: Jan Van Eyck - the Arnolfini Portrait (a 15th work whose meaning has puzzled for centuries)

Take a break from a busy week and make some mathematical crafts. Join us at 12 pm in N4.01 on Friday the 20th. Materials and a Taylors sandwich lunch provided. Please indicate attendance for catering purposes by 5pm on the 17th.

The Oxford SIAM Student Chapter are excited to announce their very first joint event with G-Research. Join them for an introductory talk about the company (a great talk to attend if you are keen on internships), followed by an interactive game with the chance to win £100 Amazon vouchers.

Mathematical Institute, C6,  Tuesday 17 February (W5), 3:30 pm. Tea, coffee (decaf available) and biscuits will be provided in the Common Room afterwards.

For more information contact @email

Join us on Friday 6 March as we celebrate International Women’s Day (8 March) with a special Applied Mathematics Colloquium by Anita Layton -  “We are all different: Modelling key individual differences in physiological systems” (16:00 in L1).

All followed by Happy Hour and an interactive Research Poster Session in the Common Room.

So why not contribute a poster? Full details

MATH+ is hiring two new Junior Research Group Leaders:

One position is in Statistical Learning: they are looking for a candidate to establish and lead a research group developing novel mathematical and statistical methodologies for modern data analysis. Details on requirements and how to apply.

The second position is in Mathematical Immunology and Infection Dynamics: they are looking for a candidate to build up and lead a small research team. Details on requirements and how to apply.

Time to dance with André 3000 who together with Big Boi formed Outkast. Hip hop goes pop.

This is 23 years old now. Jeez.