Philip Maini has been awarded the Sylvester Medal by the Royal Society for his contributions to mathematical biology, especially the interdisciplinary modelling of biomedical phenomena and systems.
Philip's research uses mathematical modelling to gain insights into biology and medicine. It focuses mainly on pattern formation in early development, cell movement in wound healing, and the dynamics of cancer growth. It consists of developing mathematical models, which range from coupled systems of partial differential equations to multi-scale hybrid agent-based models, analysing them and using their results to advance our understanding of the biomedical sciences. Philip also take great pleasure in training the next generation of researchers in this field, and over 40 of the graduate students and postdocs he has (co-)supervised now have permanent faculty positions in mathematical biology in universities worldwide.
He says of the award: "Receiving this prize is a truly humbling experience when I look at past winners. It is recognition of the important role that mathematical biology is now playing both in mathematics and in the life sciences. I would like to thank my mentor J.D. Murray for introducing me to this field and for all his help and support throughout my career. I have been very lucky to have worked with so many talented colleagues, graduate students and early career researchers."
Philip's student lectures and other films are extremely popular on YouTube and social media with over 20 million views.
The Sylvester Medal is awarded for outstanding contributions in the field of mathematics. The medal is accompanied by a gift of £2,000.