Latest news

Our MSc in Mathematical Finance programme is structured to allow those working full-time to develop expertise in mathematical finance without compromising their professional work. The course covers all the areas of mathematical finance currently deployed in financial institutions, it also enables students to focus on topics most relevant to them.

The course has been revised and restructured in the wake of the global financial crisis. There is a new module specifically on quantitative risk management. In addition to presenting classical risk management tools, currently employed methodologies are scrutinised on the backdrop of recent risk management failures, and new directions proposed.

The deadline for applications for a January 2010 start is 2nd November. For further details see the course pages.

This years Simonyi Lecture for the public understanding of science will be given by Timothy Gowers.

The list of invited speakers for the next International Congress of Mathematicians, at Hyderabad in 2010 has now been posted.

There is a large Oxford contingent. Congratulations to

• Roger Heath-Brown
• Marc Lackenby
• Philip Maini
• Oliver Riordan
• Gregory Seregin
• Xunyu Zhou

We are pleased to announce the following awards:

A Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Dr Brian Stewart.

Individual Teaching Development Awards go to Professor Charles Batty, Dr Jackie Stedall and Dr Robin Knight.

A Teaching Development Award goes to Dr Jackie Stedall and Dr Cath Wilkins.

Congratulations to John Ball, who has been awarded the Royal Society's Sylvester Medal, and to Marcus du Sautoy, who has won the Michael Faraday Prize.

Further info available.

Pólya Prize - awarded in recognition of outstanding creativity in, imaginative exposition of, or distinguished contribution to, mathematics within the United Kingdom

The Pólya Prize is awarded to Professor Roger Heath-Brown, of the University of Oxford, for his many contributions within analytic number theory, and his dynamic application of analytic methods in wide-ranging investigations of problems spanning number theory and arithmetic geometry.

Throughout his career, Heath-Brown has regularly produced papers that have resolved long-standing problems or have presented novel techniques that have decisively changed the landscape. He has been able to devise variations of well-established techniques that permit conclusions going well beyond what was previously thought to be possible. In consequence, he is responsible for many of the sharpest conclusions available in the most important problems stretching across analytic number theory and beyond.

Naylor Prize and Lectureship - awarded in recognition of work in and influence on Applied Mathematics or the Applications of Mathematics; or lecturing gifts

The Naylor Prize and Lectureship in Applied Mathematics is awarded to Professor Philip Maini, of the University of Oxford, in recognition of his contributions to, and influence on, the field of mathematical biology.

In recent years, mathematical biology has experienced very rapid growth, and has established itself as an area that is driving the evolution of much new mathematics, as well as having an increasing impact on the biological sciences. Maini has been at the forefront of many of these developments. Many of the problems that he studies necessitate the formulation and analysis of new models, requiring him to bring to bear both knowledge of the relevant biology and mathematical skills. He is unsurpassed by his peers at the art and science of formulating tractable mathematical models of complex biological processes.

Whitehead Prize

A Whitehead Prize is awarded to Dr Cornelia Druţu, of the University of Oxford, for her work in geometric group theory.

Raphael Rouquier has been awarded the Elie Cartan Prize from the French Academy of Sciences.

This is a triennial prize awarded to a mathematician aged under 45, of any nationality, who has accomplished an important body of work, either through the introduction of new ideas or by solving a difficult problem.

The prize was created in 1980 and the previous winners are Dennis Sullivan, Mikhail Gromov, Johannes Sjostrand, Jean Bourgain, Clifford Taubes, Don Zagier, Laurent Clozel, Jean-Benoit Bost and Emmanuel Ullmo.