Please note that the list below only shows forthcoming events, which may not include regular events that have not yet been entered for the forthcoming term. Please see the past events page for a list of all seminar series that the department has on offer.

 

Mon, 23 Nov 2026

15:30 - 16:30
L3

TBA

Fredrik Viklund
(KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Abstract

TBA

Mon, 23 Nov 2026

16:30 - 17:30
L4

TBA

Matthew Schrecker
(University of Bath)
Abstract

TBA

Tue, 24 Nov 2026
13:00
L2

Emergent Hamiltonians from boundary symmetries

Jose Garre Rubio
(Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
Abstract

We introduce a systematic framework for constructing emergent local commuting Hamiltonians in (d+1) dimensions from symmetries defined on a d-dimensional boundary. Starting from a generic d-dimensional symmetry, we gauge it by introducing layers of gauge fields carrying dual symmetries, which can in turn be gauged. The fixed points of this iterative gauging procedure yield (d+1)-dimensional stabilizer Hamiltonians built from local Gauss-law constraints. These Hamiltonians encode the emergent bulk order while realizing the original symmetry on the boundary.

I will show how, starting in one dimension, this construction reproduces familiar two-dimensional topological codes, such as the toric code, and naturally realizes all gapped boundary conditions as different one-dimensional symmetric phases at the boundary. The framework extends to higher-form and subsystem symmetries in arbitrary dimensions, yielding, for example, three-dimensional fracton models.

If time permits, I will also discuss how these symmetries can be classified within the framework of tensor networks.

Based on arXiv: 2403.07575, 2410.09044, and 2203.12563.
 

Tue, 24 Nov 2026
14:00
L4

TBA

Michał Pilipczuk
(University of Warsaw)
Abstract

TBA

Tue, 24 Nov 2026
14:00
L6

TBC

Johannes Carl Droschl
(Aarhus University)
Abstract

to follow

Tue, 24 Nov 2026
15:00
L6

TBC

Amanda Wilkens
(University of North Carolina)
Tue, 24 Nov 2026

15:00 - 16:00
C3

TBA

Prof. Cris Moore
(Santa Fe Institute)
Tue, 24 Nov 2026
15:30
L4

TBA

Federico Ardila
(Queen Mary University of London)
Tue, 24 Nov 2026
16:00
L5

TBC

Ryan O'Loughlin
(University of Reading)
Abstract

to follow

Tue, 24 Nov 2026
16:00
L6

TBA

Ellen Powell
(University of Durham)
Abstract

TBA

Wed, 25 Nov 2026

11:00 - 13:00
L4

Renormalised models for the fractional Phi4 equation

Salvador Esquivel
((Mathematical Institute University of Oxford))
Abstract

We extend the construction of BPHZ renormalised models in regularity structures via the spectral gap inequality to the fractional heat operator. Its Green’s function fails to be smooth across the entire time-zero hyperplane, violating the classical assumption that kernels are smooth away from the origin. The proof requires a delicate balance between the gain in regularity provided by the spectral gap approach and the limited spatial decay of the kernel. 

Joint work with L. Broux and R. Steele.

Wed, 25 Nov 2026

14:00 - 15:00
Quillen Room N3.12

DPhil Applications Q&A

(Mathematrix)
Abstract

Your chance to ask Mathematrix DPhil students about the process of applying to PhD programs, including written stages and interviews!

Thu, 26 Nov 2026

12:00 - 13:00
L3

From Physics to Factory: Using Mathematical Modelling to Accelerate Battery Manufacturing

Dr Helen Walker
(UK Battery Industrialisation Centre)

The join button will be shown 30 minutes before the seminar starts.

Abstract

The rapid growth of the battery industry has created an urgent need for faster process development, reduced experimental burden, and improved manufacturing efficiency. Mathematical modelling provides a powerful framework for understanding and optimising processes across the battery manufacturing chain.

 

This talk will explore how modelling can support battery manufacturing across a range of levels of complexity, from high-fidelity multiphysics simulations to reduced-order models, numerical solutions of governing transport equations, and simpler analytical tools used directly by engineers. Using examples from electrode manufacture, it will demonstrate how different approaches can be applied according to the question being addressed, balancing accuracy, computational effort and practical utility. The talk will show how these complementary techniques can be used to gain process insight, guide experimentation, explore large design spaces and support decisions from early-stage development through to industrial scale-up.

 

Drawing on examples from industrial practice, the talk will illustrate how modelling can shorten development timelines, reduce reliance on costly experimental programmes, and enable more effective scale-up of battery manufacturing processes. It concludes with a discussion of emerging opportunities for applied mathematics in next-generation battery production and digital manufacturing.

Thu, 26 Nov 2026

12:00 - 12:30
Lecture Room 4, Mathematical Institute

TBA

Lenka Košárková
(Charles University)
Abstract

TBA

Thu, 26 Nov 2026

14:00 - 15:00
Lecture Room 3

To be announced

Assistant Professor Dominik Stöger
(Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany)
Abstract

TBA

 

 

 

Thu, 26 Nov 2026

16:00 - 17:00
L5

TBA

Horace Yiu
((Mathematical Institute University of Oxford))
Abstract

TBA

Fri, 27 Nov 2026

11:00 - 12:00
L1

What to do over the vacation?

Abstract

In this session, we will discuss how best to use the Christmas vacation to consolidate your learning, to prepare for collections, and of course to have a rest!

This session is likely to be most relevant for first-year undergraduates, but all are welcome.

Fri, 27 Nov 2026

11:00 - 12:00
L4

Mathematical modelling of naturally occurring epigenetic barcodes as a tool to resolve clonal dynamics in cancer

Prof Calum Gabbutt
(Department of Immunology and Inflammation Imperial College London)
Abstract

Evolution underlies the transformation of a normal cell to a cancer, yet learning the parameters defining this dynamic process from single-timepoint bulk samples is an open challenge. To understand how cancer cells evolve in vivo, we must rely on naturally occurring, heritable lineage tracing markers that encode the evolutionary history of a population of cells. Here, I shall introduce our work on identifying selectively neutral “epigenetic barcodes” and employing them as a molecular clock. By coupling this process with mathematical modelling and Bayesian inference, we characterised the evolutionary history of almost 2000 lymphoid cancers (Gabbutt et al., 2025). Across a broad range of cancer types, we demonstrated that tumour growth rates and malignancy ages differed by orders of magnitude. In 2 independent cohorts of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), a typically indolent and slow growing cancer, the inferred growth rates were highly prognostic. I shall further discuss recent work applying this approach to resolve the clonal relationship between acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) blasts and differentiated neutrophils in patients without bone marrow failure. 

Fri, 27 Nov 2026
13:30
C6

TBC

Qiu Shi Wang
((Mathematical Institute University of Oxford))
Mon, 30 Nov 2026

14:00 - 15:00
Lecture Room 3

Physics-informed deep generative models: Applications to computational sensing

Professor Marcelo Pereyra
(Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh)
Abstract

Professor Pereyra will talk about; 'Physics-informed deep generative models: Applications to computational sensing'

This talk introduces a novel mathematical and computational framework for constructing high-dimensional Bayesian inversion methods that leverage state-of-the-art generative denoising diffusion models as highly informative priors. A central innovation is the construction of physics-informed generative models using Langevin diffusion processes and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling techniques to develop stochastic neural network architectures capable of near-exact sampling. The obtained networks are modular and composed of interpretable layers that are directly related to statistical image priors and data likelihoods derived from forward observation models. The layers encoding the data likelihood function are designed for flexibility, enabling scene and instrument model parameters to be specified at inference time and seamlessly integrated with pre-trained foundational generative priors. To achieve high computational efficiency, we employ adversarial model distillation, which yields excellent sampling performance with as few as four Markov chain Monte Carlo steps, even in problems exceeding one million dimensions. Our approach is validated through non-asymptotic convergence analysis and extensive numerical experiments in computational image and video restoration. We conclude by discussing unsupervised training strategies that allow the models to be fine-tuned directly from measurement data, thereby bypassing the need for clean reference data.

The talk is based on recent work in physics-informed generative AI for Bayesian imaging: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.12615 (ICCV 2025), which uses a distilled latent Stable Diffusion XL model trained on five billion clean images as a zero-shot prior, and  https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.02686, which integrates pixel-based diffusion models with deep unfolding and diffusion distillation (TMLR 2025). The extension to video restoration is presented in https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01339 (ICLR 2025). Our approach to unsupervised training of diffusion models is introduced in https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11964.

 

 

Further Information

Bio:
Marcelo Pereyra is a Professor in Statistics and UKRI EPSRC Open Research Fellow at the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences of Heriot-Watt University & Maxwell Institute for Mathematical Sciences. He leads pioneering research advancing the statistical foundations of quantitative and scientific imaging, shaping how image data are used as rigorous quantitative evidence, and forging deep connections between statistical, variational, and machine learning approaches to imaging. His leadership and contributions have been recognized through multiple prestigious awards, most recently a five-year fulltime EPSRC Open Fellowship to drive the next generation of breakthroughs in statistical imaging sciences based on physics-informed generative artificial intelligence. Prof. Pereyra will join Imperial College London in 2027 as Chair in Statistical Machine Learning in the Department of Mathematics.

Prof. Pereyra received the SIAM SIGEST Award in Imaging Sciences for his contributions to Bayesian imaging in 2022. He has held Invited Professor positions at Institut Henri Poincaré (Paris, 2019), Université Paris Cité (2022), Ecole Normale Superiéure Lyon (2023), Université Paris Cité (2024) and Centralle Lille (2025). He is also the recipient of a UKRI EPSRC Open Research Fellowship (2025), a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship for Career Development (2013), a Brunel Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Statistics (2012), a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from French Ministry of Defence (2012), and a Leopold Escande PhD Thesis award from the University of Toulouse (2012).

Mon, 30 Nov 2026
14:15
L4

On metric connections with parallel and closed skew torsion

Paul Schwahn
((Mathematical Institute University of Oxford))
Abstract

This talk is divided in three parts. First, I review structural properties and examples of geometries with parallel skew torsion. Second, I take a closer look at those geometries where the torsion is in addition closed; this equips every tangent space with the structure of a metric Lie algebra. These manifolds always locally split as a product into well understood factors, allowing a complete local classification. Third, I investigate various G-structures defining a geometry of this type, with a focus on almost Hermitian structures, extending recent results of Barbaro-Pediconi-Tardini. This is joint work with Andrei Moroianu.

Mon, 30 Nov 2026
15:30
L5

TBC

Victor Roca i Lucio
(Université Paris Cité)
Mon, 30 Nov 2026

15:30 - 16:30
L3

TBA

Kay Giesecke
(University of Potsdam)
Abstract

TBA

Mon, 30 Nov 2026

16:30 - 17:30
L4

TBA

Amelie Loher
((Mathematical Institute University of Oxford))
Abstract

TBA

Tue, 01 Dec 2026
14:00
L6

TBC

Mario Marcos Losada
(Mathematical Institute University of Oxford )
Abstract

to follow

Tue, 01 Dec 2026
14:00
L4

TBA

Annika Heckel
(Uppsala University)
Abstract

TBA

Tue, 01 Dec 2026

15:00 - 16:00
C3

TBA

Fernando Diaz-Diaz
(University of Madrid Carlos III)
Tue, 01 Dec 2026
15:00
L6

The conjugacy problem in twisted right-angled Artin groups

Gemma Crowe
(Manchester)
Abstract
There exists a vast literature around the idea of constructing groups (and monoids) via some correspondence with finite simple graphs. One well-known example is right-angled Artin groups (RAAGs), where edges in our graph correspond to commuting generators in our group.
 
In this talk, we will discuss an adaptation of this group, known as twisted RAAGs (T-RAAGs), where we introduce the option of ‘Klein-bottle’ relations, to correspond to directed edges of our graph. We will then survey some results about these groups (including many open questions!) and show T-RAAGs have a decidable conjugacy problem. This is based on joint work with Islam Foniqi.
Tue, 01 Dec 2026
16:00
L6

TBA

Louis-Pierre Arguin
(The University of Oxford and the City University of New York)
Abstract

TBA

Tue, 01 Dec 2026
16:00
L5

TBC

Jesse Reimann
(Delft University)
Abstract

to follow

Thu, 03 Dec 2026

12:00 - 13:00
C5

TBA

Lisa Valentini
(DAMTP University of Cambridge)
Abstract

TBA

Thu, 03 Dec 2026

12:00 - 12:30
Lecture Room 4, Mathematical Institute

TBA

Yuyang Huang
(Mathematical Institute University of Oxford)
Abstract

TBA

Thu, 03 Dec 2026

16:00 - 17:00
L5

TBA

Gonçalo dos Reis
(University of Edinburgh)
Abstract

TBA

Thu, 03 Dec 2026
17:00
L3

Truth, proof, and AI: AI and the V challenge

Hugh Woodin
(Harvard)
Abstract
AI systems have become very good at proving theorems with recent successes far beyond what was envisioned as possible even just 2 years ago. This in the last month has included theorems even in Set Theory (where the training data is far more limited). But the Universe of Sets, V, presents a unique challenge for AI.