Thu, 22 Jan 2026

12:00 - 13:00
L3

Modelling Across Scales and Disciplines: From Fertilization and Embryogenesis to Epidemics

Katerina Kaouri
(Cardiff)

The join button will be published 30 minutes before the seminar starts (login required).

Further Information

 

Katerina is a Reader in Applied Mathematics and the Director for Impact and Engagement at the Cardiff University School of Mathematics. She holds a DPhil from OCIAM, on sonic boom modelling, funded by the AIRBUS and the EU. Katerina has more recently been working on a range of interdisciplinary challenges mainly stemming from biology and medicine, in collaboration with companies, government and society. She is also the founder and coordinator of the European Study Groups with Industry (modelling workshops) in Cyprus (ESGI125, ESGI146). She has also co-founded the non-profit SciCo Cyprus and the Mediterranean Science Festival and she is a TEDx Speaker and a TED-Ed educator. Furthermore, she has been part of large-scale public engagement projects such as the SciShops.eu project where 18 organisations in 12 EU countries tackled pressing societal challenges through co-creative approaches. During the pandemic she led a modelling team that informed policy decisions of the Welsh Government, in collaboration with Prof. Ian Griffiths (OCIAM); she continues working on epidemic preparedness in collaboration with architects and policymakers. She represents the UK in the Councils of the European Consortium of Mathematics in Industry (ECMI) and of EU-Maths-In and she is a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the Newton Gateway. She is the recipient of the 2025 IMA Hedy Lamarr Prize for Knowledge Exchange in Mathematics and Its Applications.

 

Abstract

I will present an overview of a range of interdisciplinary modelling challenges that I have been working on in collaboration with experimentalists and external partners. I will begin with mathematical modelling of calcium signalling in In-Vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryogenesis, illustrating how multiscale approaches can link molecular dynamics to cellular and developmental outcomes. I will then discuss our ongoing work on modelling viral transmission in indoor environments, carried out in collaboration with architects and policymakers, with the aim of informing evidence-based policy decisions for future epidemics.

 

Tue, 20 Feb 2018

12:00 - 13:15
L4

Conformal field theory from affine Lie algebras at fractional levels

Simon Wood
(Cardiff)
Abstract

Some of the most studied examples of conformal field theories
include
the Wess-Zumino-Witten models. These are conformal field theories exhibiting
affine Lie algebra symmetry at non-negative integers levels. In this talk I
will
discuss conformal field theories exhibiting affine Lie algebra symmetry at
certain rational (hence fractional) levels whose structure is arguably even
more intricate than the structure of the non-negative integer levels,
provided
one is prepared to look beyond highest weight modules.

Thu, 19 Jan 2012

16:00 - 17:00
DH 1st floor SR

Inverse problems, wavelets, and linear viscoelasticity

Russell Davies
(Cardiff)
Abstract

It is an inherent premise in Boltzmann's formulation of linear viscoelasticity, that for shear deformations at constant pressure and constant temperature, every material has a unique continuous relaxation spectrum. This spectrum defines the memory kernel of the material. Only a few models for representing the continuous spectrum have been proposed, and these are entirely empirical in nature.

Extensive laboratory time is spent worldwide in collecting dynamic data from which the relaxation spectra of different materials may be inferred. In general the process involves the solution of one or more exponentially ill-posed inverse problems.

In this talk I shall present rigorous models for the continuous relaxation spectrum. These arise naturally from the theory of continuous wavelet transforms. In solving the inverse problem I shall discuss the role of sparsity as one means of regularization, but there is also a secondary regularization parameter which is linked, as always, to resolution. The topic of model-induced super-resolution is discussed, and I shall give numerical results for both synthetic and real experimental data.

The talk is based on joint work with Neil Goulding (Cardiff University).

Tue, 16 Jun 2009
12:00
L3

From the geometry of spacetime to the geometry of numbers

Stefan Hollands
(Cardiff)
Abstract

One of the major open challenges in general relativity is the classification of black hole solutions in higher dimensional theories. I will explain a recent result in this direction in the context of Kaluza-Klein spacetimes admitting a sufficient number N of commuting U(1)-symmetries. It turns out that the black holes in such a theory are characterized by the usual asymptotic charges, together with certain combinatorical data and moduli. The combinatorial data characterize the nature of the U(1)^N-action, and its analysis is closely related to properties of integer lattices and questions in the area of geometric number theory. I will also explain recent results on extremal black holes which show that such objects display remarkable ``symmetry enhancement'' properties
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