'Careers Beyond Academia: Options and Pathways for Researchers', will take place from 24-27 March for Oxford University DPhils and Research Staff.

Join online panel discussions featuring PhD holders and former academic researchers now working across various industries and attend in-person events that explore the current job market and provide opportunities to connect with employers actively seeking to hire researchers. 

More information

On Friday March 7, we will be launching Oxford Edge, the new centre for student entrepreneurs at 37 St Giles. 

Open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students, the centre will be a space to work, connect, learn, and be inspired by successful entrepreneurs. Come and visit between 2.30 and 4.30pm on 7 March: the first 100 students to arrive will receive exclusive Edge merchandise.

Tue, 29 Apr 2025
16:00
L6

Thick points of the planar Gaussian free field 

Ellen Powell
(Durham University)
Abstract
The Gaussian Free Field (GFF) in two dimensions is a random field which can be viewed as a multidimensional analogue of Brownian motion, and appears as a universal scaling limit of a class of discrete height functions. Thick points of the GFF are points where, roughly speaking, the field is atypically high. They provide key insights into the geometric properties of the field, and are the basis for construction of important associated objects in random planar geometry. The set of thick points with thickness level a is a fractal set with Hausdorff dimension 2-a^2/2. In this talk I will discuss another fundamental property, namely, that the set is almost surely disconnected for all non-zero a. This is based on joint work with Juhan Aru and Léonie Papon, and uses a remarkable relationship between the GFF and the "conformal loop ensemble" of parameter 4. 
Tue, 27 May 2025
16:00

TBA

Claudia Rella
(Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques)
Tue, 06 May 2025
16:00
L6

Random matrix insights into discrete moments

Christopher Hughes
(University of York)
Abstract

One curious little fact about the Riemann zeta function is that if you evaluate its derivatives at the zeros of zeta, then on average this is real and positive (even though the function is complex). This has been proven for some time now, but the aim of this talk is to generalise the question further (higher derivatives, complex moments) and gain insight using random matrix theory. The takeaway message will be that there are a multitude of different proof techniques in RMT, each with their own advantages

Approximate solutions of a general stochastic velocity-jump model subject to discrete-time noisy observations
Ceccarelli, A Browning, A Baker, R Bulletin of Mathematical Biology volume 87 issue 5 (25 Mar 2025)

On Friday 14th March, we'll celebrate Pi Day with delicious Banoffee Pi.

Banoffee is a dessert with a buttery biscuit base, rich toffee, and fresh bananas. Apparently it is a fairly recent addition to menus, British in origin, dating as far back as, er, 1971.

Time-harmonic waves in Korteweg and nematic-Korteweg fluids
Farrell, P Zerbinati, U Physical Review E volume 111 issue 3 (28 Mar 2025)
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