EPSRC funds new UK Consortium on Mesoscale Engineering Sciences (UKCOMES)

28/07/2014

Professor Tim Phillips is a co-investigator on a new EPSRC network grant involving researchers at UCL, Imperial College, Manchester, Cranfield, Strathclyde and Leeds. Working in the emergent field of mesoscopic simulation requires a truly multidisciplinary approach that needs to span a wide range of both spatial and temporal scales and necessitates close interaction between researchers in the physical and chemical sciences, mathematics, biology, engineering and computational science.

The creation of UKCOMES brings together the required expertise to make critical theoretical discoveries and translate these new concepts into software that is able to exploit today's and future high-end computing (HEC) hardware developments. Enhanced modelling tools and an improved understanding of mesoscale phenomena will help designers, developers and manufacturers to improve design capabilities and shorten product development cycles, thus benefitting the aeronautical, automotive, chemical, food, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and process industries and strengthening UK's industrial competitiveness overall.

Cardiff OR Stars at EURO Summer Institute

28/07/2014

Jenny Morgan, Julie Vile, Vincent Knight and Paul Harper were involved in the EURO Summer Institute for Healthcare. Jenny and Julie were the only two UK invited participants for the EURO Summer Institute for Healthcare (http://orahs.di.unito.it/eswi.html). This prestigious event hosts early career researchers in an intense environment where leading experts in the field of healthcare modelling offer guidance over a ten day period.

This year the event took place in the scenic location of Forte di Barde in Italy's valley d'Aoste. (pictured right). Paul was one of the experts giving a tutorial on queueing theory applied to healthcare with an emphasis on the general process of writing an academic paper and Vince was on the organising committee and participated throughout the workshop.

Workshop on Innovations in University Mathematics Teaching

28/07/2014

Cardiff School of Mathematics hosted this 2-day workshop, which introduced delegates to innovative approaches to teaching mathematics in university settings. In particular there was be masterclasses on two meth¬ods: inquiry based learning and flipped classrooms, combined with plenty of opportunities for delegates to experi¬ence these methods in practice and reflect on ways in which they might be embedded within their own teaching. The workshop was organised by Prof Paul Harper, Dr Vince Knight and Dr Rob Wilson of Cardiff University School of Mathematics. For further details please visit the website: http://mathsevents.cf.ac.uk/mathedworkshop/index.html

Maths Success at the ESLA’s!

19/05/2014

The annual university Enriching Student Life Awards (ESLA’s) is a celebration of the commitment and dedication of university students and staff who have made a real difference to the student experience. This year several members of Maths staff were nominated for awards, along with student members of the School Student-Staff Panel. The dinner and awards ceremony at the Great Hall was a fantastic occasion, with Maths featuring strongly amongst the list of winners. Congratulations go to:

Anatoly Zhigljavsky – Winner of the 'Most Innovative Member of Staff' award.

Rochelle Brunnock and Will McLoughlin – Winners of the 'Student Academic Rep of the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering' award.

Rochelle Brunnock – Winner of the 'Student Academic Rep of the Year 2014' award.

Congratulations to the winners, and to all those who were nominated.

Ross McKenzie to represent Cardiff SIAM Chapter at the 2014 SIAM Annual Meeting in Chicago.

09/05/2014

PhD Student and SIAM Chapter President Ross McKenzie was selected to represent the Cardiff University Chapter of SIAM with a research presentation during Student Days at the 2014 SIAM Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. The SIAM Education Committee has invited only 12 SIAM Student Chapters to present during Student Days which are designed to encourage student participation in SIAM, to offer students the opportunity to learn more about applied mathematics and computational science as both fields of study and as careers, and to provide a forum for emerging mathematicians to meet with professionals in their field. Student Days 2014 will also feature the Student Chapter Meeting with SIAM Leadership which gives student chapter representatives the opportunity to meet with key decision makers to discuss ideas for improving student chapters and ways that SIAM can meet the needs of current and future student members all over the world.

QS World University Subject Rankings 2014

24/04/2014

The latest QS World University Rankings by Subject have been released, and show that Statistics and Operational Research was one of three subjects at Cardiff to improve its position, moving from the 151-200 band to the 101-150 band. This is the result of substantial increases in the scores for the employer and academic reputational surveys. More information can be found here.

Dr Julie Vile wins bronze award at SET for Britain.

24/03/2014

Dr Julie Vile, a Research Associate in the HMC2 Mathematical Modelling Unit within the School, has won a bronze prize at a competition in the House of Commons, for the excellence of her mathematical research into developing analytical techniques to forecast demand for ambulance services and optimise their deployment. Her work was judged against 29 other shortlisted entries, as part of the poster competition SET for Britain on March 17th 2014.

Dr Vince Knight attends Voice Of The Future 2014.

24/03/2014

Dr Vince Knight was selected to represent the Council of Mathematical Sciences at Voice of The Future 2014, where he was able to table a question to Sir Mark Walport FRS FMedSci, Government Chief Scientific Adviser. The School would like to take this time to congratulate both on these outstanding achievements.

Angela Mihai elected Secretary & Treasurer of SIAM/UKIE.

14/03/2014

Dr Angela Mihai has been elected Secretary & Treasurer of the UK & Republic of Ireland Section of SIAM (SIAM-UKIE) for the period April 1, 2014 - March 31, 2016.

School of Mathematics student starts programming in September, presents at international conference in February.

27/01/2014

James Campbell will be presenting his work on Markov chain modelling of the board game Snakes and Ladders at the Djangoweekend conference: https://djangoweekend.org/event/pythons-ladders/.
 

Three Cardiff students to Attend Django Conference

14/01/2014

The School of Mathematics has sponsored three students to attend the 'Django Weekend Cardiff' conference. The three selected students where picked based on their performance in individual coursework for the Computing for Mathematics module:

• Alex Carney wrote about fractals;
• James Campbell wrote about Markov Chains and Snakes and Ladders;
• Matthew Lunn wrote about the prime number theorem.

All of their work involved not only writing about the chosen topic but also using Sage to code it.

Cardiff University School of Mathematics approved for Fulbright Specialist Program

09/12/2013

The School of Mathematics is pleased to announce the approval of a Fulbright Specialist proposal designed to raise the awareness of hypergeometric function theory at Cardiff University. Hypergeometric functions are wonderful mathematical objects in their own right and have numerous scientific and engineering applications.  In conjunction with the Fulbright Commission, Prof Mark W. Coffey (Colorado School of Mines) will present a series of introductory lectures across two visits at the School of Mathematics.  The first visit (26th May 2014 – 15th June 2014) will lay the curricular ground work at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels in the theory of hypergeometric functions. The impetus of the second visit (25th May 2015 – 14th June 2015) will be to develop an understanding and usage of hypergeometric functions in harmonic analysis and analytic number theory at the graduate level.

Prof Coffey holds PhDs in both Mathematics and Physics. He is a leading authority on Special Function Theory and is one of the few experts that can demonstrate such wide ranging interdisciplinary knowledge of special functions across Theoretical Physics and Analytical Number Theory. These lectures will be of interest to many staff and graduate students across the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering. More details will be posted nearer the first series of lectures in May 2014.

SIAM Chapter President Chris Rowlatt Receives SIAM Annual Certificate of Recognition

20/05/2013

Congratulations to SIAM Chapter President Chris Rowlatt who receives the SIAM Annual Certificate of Recognition 2013 at Cardiff University. To read and see more, go to SIAM page: Siam News.

Professor Tim Phillips awarded 2012 Annual Award of the British Society of Rheology

19/04/2013

Professor Tim Phillips is the recipient of the British Society of Rheology Annual Award for 2012, in recognition of his research on computational methods for non-Newtonian flows, and his service to the Society. He was presented with the award at the meeting of the Institute of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics on 'Advances in Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics' held at the Royal Society International Centre at Chicheley Hall in Buckinghamshire in March 2013. He was presented with the award by the President of the British Society of Rheology, Dr Bill Frith.

Maths staff nominated for Enriching Student Life Awards

16/04/2013

The School of Mathematics is pleased to announce that two of its academic staff have been nominated in the forthcoming university Enriching Student Life Awards, with Dr. Rob Wilson shortlisted in the 'Most Uplifting Member of Staff' category and Dr. Janet Williams shortlisted in the 'Endsleigh Employability Award' category.

SIAM Chapter Day 2013 features in the April Issue of SIAM News

03/04/2013

The SIAM Chapter Day 2013 at Cardiff University features in the April Issue of SIAM News, the News Journal of Applied Mathematics. You can read the article online at:External link.

Spectral Analysis and Differential Equations Meeting

15/03/2013

A meeting in memory of Michael Eastham FRSE, a distinguished expert in the field of spectral analysis and differential equations who had long-standing close ties to Cardiff University will be held in July 2013.

The meeting will be held at the School of Computer Science & Informatics at Cardiff (Queens Buildings) in the West extension room WX/3.07 on 1-2 July 2013, commencing at 10:00am. The meeting will end at 13:00pm on the 2 July.

For further details, see http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/easthammemorial/.

Cardiff Undergraduate Jason Young wins GCHQ prize for best talk at Tomorrow's Mathematicians Today conference

16/02/2013

On the 16th of February at Greenwich University the "Tomorrow's Mathematicians Today" conference took place. This was a great conference that brought together undergraduates from all over the UK. The conference website can be found here: http://mathsoc.cms.gre.ac.uk/tmt/

The prize for best talk was sponsored by GCHQ.

The winner of the prize was Jason Young from Cardiff University. Jason presented work on queueing theory and game theory he did with Dr. Knight during a summer research internship. He wrote a blog post about his experience here: http://drvinceknight.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/guest-post-summer-research-internship.html

A (poor quality) video of the prize announcement is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOxT7YatMUo.

Poster Success at BSR Midwinter Meeting

06/02/2013

The BSR-TA Instruments prize for the best student poster at the Midwinter
Meeting of the British Society of Rheology was awarded to Chris Rowlatt for
his poster on 'An eXtended Spectral Element Method for Two-phase
Viscoelastic Flows'. Peter Hodder from TA Instruments presented the award,
which offers Chris £350 to attend a rheology conference of his choice.

Mathematics Today Features Cardiff University Maths Society

05/02/2013

Cardiff University Maths Society has a half page feature in the February/March issue of the Mathematics Today magazine, published by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA). The article describes what the Maths Society has achieved over the autumn semester and explains how they have used the sponsorship money provided by the IMA so far. The society has planned a variety of events over the spring semester which members of staff are invited to attend. These include:

* Thursday 14th March 2013 – 3pm – M/0.40

Professor Brian Golding OBE from the Met Office will be presenting about how mathematics is used in meteorology. Professor Golding has just retired from the position of Deputy Director of Weather Science and has played a very important part in meteorology.

* Thursday 21st March 2013 – 3pm – M/0.40

Richard from GCHQ will be presenting about modern cryptology. Richard is a council member of the IMA and his talk has sparked interest from other Schools.

* Saturday 27th April 2013 – 10am to 5pm – School of Mathematics

The IMA Early Careers Mathematicians Conference Spring 2013 will be held at the School of Mathematics. The conference is designed to bring mathematicians together who are in the early stages of their careers (usually within 15 years of graduation). There will be several talks including: the use of mathematics in video games and how mathematical models helped build the UK’s supersonic car, Bloodhound. Go to www.ima.org.uk to register onto the conference.

SIAM Chapter Day 2013

24/01/2013

The First Annual SIAM Chapter Day held at Cardiff University on 21 January 2013 marked the formation of the first Student SIAM Chapter to be established in Wales. This launching event brought together over 70 research students and faculty in mathematics and engineering, and offered a platform for discussions on a wide range of topics from computational accuracy to mathematical modeling in science and industry to engineering applications. The programme included guest lectures by Nick Higham (University of Manchester), Alain Goriely (University of Oxford), Simon Cox (Aberystwyth University), and Matthew Gilbert (University of Sheffield), and poster presentations by doctoral students from Cardiff University and their guests from the Universities of Manchester, Aberystwyth, and Swansea.

The aim was to give participants the opportunity to interact across areas, and the speakers and students had to work very hard in order to make their contributions accessible to a varied and demanding audience. Yet everyone was up to the challenge and the result was an event which was thoroughly enjoyed by all those involved.

Dr Neil Goulding wins the Vernon Harrison Prize for the Best Thesis In Rheology

10/12/2012

Dr Neil Goulding has been awarded the Vernon Harrison Annual Doctoral Prize of the British Society of Rheology for 2012. Neil completed his doctoral thesis on 'Wavelet regularization and the continuous relaxation spectrum', under the supervision of Professor Russell Davies in November 2011. His research involved the development of natural models for the continuous relaxation spectrum using wavelet analysis. The relaxation spectrum of a material provides insight into the relaxation mechanisms of the material and contains information about its molecular structure.

The Vernon Harrison Annual Doctoral Prize of the British Society of Rheology is an award for the most distinguished PhD thesis in rheology. The aim of the award is to recognise excellence, creativity and novelty in research and is awarded to the postgraduate who, in the opinion of the adjudicating committee, has made the most original and significant contribution to any branch of rheological research (experimental, computational or theoretical) leading to the award of a PhD degree in a given academic year.

Dr Goulding will present his work and receive his award at this year's Midwinter Meeting of the British Society of Rheology which will be held at Aberystwyth University, 17-18 December 2012. Dr Goulding is the third Cardiff recipient of this award in recent years following Tim Reis (2007) and Steve Lind (2010).

Bridging the Gaps for Aerospace Research

25/10/2012

Dr Chris Davies, along with colleagues from Cardiff in the Schools of Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology and the Business School, has obtained an EPSRC-funded grant for £47,000 to explore possible collaborations that would promote the development of interdisciplinary research in the Aerospace field.

Waggle Wings Research

25/10/2012

Dr Chris Davies has obtained a grant of £32,000 (from Airbus/EADS) to conduct further research related to so-called 'waggle wings', which could be used to reduce skin-friction drag for aircraft.
More details of the EPSRC-funded research project, from which the current work has developed, can be found at: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/newsevents/news/2009/Pages/aircraftemissions.aspx . The project also involves researchers from the School of Engineering, University of Warwick, the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College and staff from Airbus/EADS.

Laminar Flow Control Research (for Aircraft)

25/10/2012

Dr Chris Daviesis participating as an affiliated researcher and visitor in the research programme LFC-UK: Development of Underpinning Technology for Laminar Flow Control. The research is coordinated by Imperial College with a budget of £4.2M and is jointly funded by EPSRC, Airbus and EADS-IW. Further details can be found at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/lfc-uk

OR Thesis Success

24/10/2012

Cardiff Maths PhD student, Richard Wood has been awarded the prize for the Best PhD thesis in OR submitted during 2011. Since leaving the School of Mathematics, Richard is enjoying a new career within the Health Protection Agency at Porton Down. The staff and students of the school would like to take this time to congratulate Richard on this outstanding achievement.

Dr. Rob Wilson and his 2012 Sigma Award

Dr. Rob Wilson awarded 2012 Sigma Outstanding Contributor prize

31/07/2012

Cardiff School of Mathematics would like to offer it's warmest congratulations to Dr. Rob Wilson, who has been awarded the prestigious 2012 Sigma Network Outstanding Contributor award for his contributions in the field of Mathematics and Statistics Support.

The Outstanding Contributor prize is a national award that recognises an individual who has made a significant contribution to maths support for at least 5 years and influenced others through their promotion of maths support to a wide audience.

Upon receiving his award from the directors of Sigma, Professor Duncan Lawson (Coventry University) and Professor Tony Croft (Loughborough University) at a ceremony held during the annual CETL-MSOR conference in Sheffield on 12-13 July, Rob said "Continually encouraging and successfully implementing the principles behind student learning is a challenging, yet exciting journey, but it is one that I am eager to take to infinity . . . and beyond if necessary!"

'Cutting Edge Research' Poster Success

21/05/2012

Cardiff Maths PhD student, Leanne Smith, has been awarded first prize in the St David's Day Poster competition across Wales to find the best cutting edge research in STEM subjects. This is a fantastic achievement for Leanne who is in her final year of PhD research. Her work is on queuing theory, location theory and simulation applied to emergency medical services modelling. Leanne is working in collaboration with the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust and is supervised by Prof. Paul Harper, Dr. Janet Williams and Dr. Vince Knight. She will collect her award from Edwina Hart AM, Minister for Business, at an event to be held at the Senedd in June.

Maths Students Are Thriving!!

16/05/2012

Two outstanding students from the School Of Mathematics recently took part in the University's Thrive campaign to win free university tuition for life. Maidstone Girls Grammar School student Nina Di Cara and Haybridge High School student James Ledward both reached the final of the challenge, being shortlisted to the final six via a series of rigorous challenges. Please join us in congratulating them on this fantastic achievement. Further details about the challenge can be found on the Thrive webpage.

Inverse Problems In Neuroimaging Conference - Tuesday April 24th 2012

20/04/2012

The School Of Mathematics, in conjuncture with CUBRIC and the Cardiff University School of Psychology will be hosting a one day conference on Inverse Problems in Neuroimaging, more information on which can be found here.

SIAM approves Student Chapter at Cardiff University

05/04/2012

We are delighted to announce that SIAM has approved the formation of a Student Chapter at Cardiff University. Further details are available on the SIAM page.

Recognition of Service Award for Professor M N Huxley

25/11/2011

Professor M N Huxley, a Professor of Mathematics at Cardiff School of Mathematics has been recognised for his service to the School and University via the Universities Recognition of Service Award on 25th November 2011. More information regarding the ceremony can be found here.

Cardiff School of Mathematics would like to thank him kindly for his contribution and offer their best wishes for the future.

Student success in School of Mathematics annual Prize Giving Event

14/10/2011

Cardiff School of Mathematics holds a Prize Giving event anually to congratulate students who have done will in their first year of study. This years event was held at CF10 in Cardiff Students Union and was highly successful with a number of students being praised for their efforts and results.

The school would like to give a special thanks to Lloyds banking Group and the Office for National Statistics for sponsoring and presenting prizes at the event.

To find out who the prize winners were and to view pictures from the evening please click here.

Penodiad Newydd Yn Ysgol Fathemateg Prifysgol Caerdydd/New Appointment at Cardiff University School of Mathematics

26/09/2011

Mae Prifysgol Caerdydd yn falch o gyhoeddi penodiad newydd i’r Ysgol Fathemateg.  Wedi llwyddo i ddenu nawdd drwy Gynllun Staffio newydd y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, mae’r brifysgol wedi penodi Mathew Pugh yn ddarlithydd cyfrwng Cymraeg mewn Mathemateg.

Dilynodd Mathew ei yrfa academaidd yma, ac yn fwy diweddar yn fyfyriwr Doethuriaeth yma, yn gwneud ei ymchwil yng nghangen Algebrau Gweithredydd. Ers cwblhau ei ddoethuriaeth dwy flynedd yn ôl, bu’n Rheolwr Prosiect ar Rwydwaith Hyfforddiant Ymchwil Marie Curie, yn ogystal â pharhau gyda’i waith ymchwil.

“Rwy’n hynod falch o fod yn rhan o’r datblygiadau cyffrous yma, a medru rhoi cyfle i fyfyrwyr Cymraeg cael dysgu yn eu hiaith eu hunain,” meddai Mathew, “ac yn edrych ymlaen at gael cydweithio gyda sefydliadau eraill yng Nghymru i ddatblygu’r ddarpariaeth yn fwy cyffredinol. Rwyf  hefyd yn awyddus i barhau gyda fy ngwaith ymchwil ac yn hynod o bles am gael y cyfle i wneud hyn.”

Bydd penodi Mathew yn galluogi’r ysgol gynnig dosbarthiadau tiwtorialau yn Gymraeg am y tro cyntaf, a datblygu modiwl newydd yn y Gymraeg ar gyfer myfyrwyr. Mae apwyntio Mathew i'r swydd hon yn gam pwysig i'r Ysgol Fathemateg a Phrifysgol Caerdydd wrth i ni fynd yn ein blaen i gynllunio a datblygu ein strategaeth i wella'r hyn a gynigiwn i'n myfyrwyr fel addysg cyfrwng Cymraeg. Mae'n holl bwysig ein bod yn gwneud hyn ar draws yr holl ddisgyblaethau a gynigiwn yng Nghaerdydd a bydd gwaith Mathew yn yr Ysgol Fathemateg yn braenaru'r tir i Ysgolion eraill wneud camau tebyg yn y dyfodol. 

Cardiff University is pleased to announce a new appointment to the School of Mathematics. Having successfully attracted funding through the new Staffing Plan for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, the university has appointed Mathew Pugh as Welsh medium lecturer in Mathematics.

Mathew followed his undergraduate studies at the School of Mathematics, before becoming a PhD student here, doing his research in Operator Algebras. Since completing his doctorate two years ago, he was Project Manager of a Marie Curie Research Training Network, whilst continuing with his research.

"I am extremely proud to be part of the exciting developments here, and able to give Welsh students the opportunity to learn in their own language," said Mathew, "and look forward to working with other institutions in Wales to develop the provision more generally. I am also keen to continue with my research and very pleased to have the opportunity to do so."

The appointment of Mathew will enable the school to offer tutorial classes in Welsh for the first time, and develop a new module in Welsh for students. Mathew's appointment to this position is an important step for the School of Mathematics and Cardiff University as we move forward to plan and develop our strategy to improve what we offer our students regarding Welsh-medium education. It is imperative that we do this across all the disciplines we offer in Cardiff and the work of Mathew in the School of Mathematics will pave the way for other schools to undertake similar steps in the future.

Maths Success at the Enriching Student Life Awards

23/05/2011

The School of Mathematics was heavily involved in the nominations at the inaugural Cardiff University Enriching Student Life Awards. Nominations were received from students for more than two hundred staff members from across the University to give formal recognition to those who have contributed to both student academic achievements as well as the overall student experience.

The shortlisted nominees from the School of Mathematics were:

James Cheeseman (Student) - Course Rep. of the Year
Dr Janet Williams - Employability Award
Dr Robert Wilson - Staff Member that has made the biggest difference to the student experience.

All should be congratulated for their efforts to enhance the student learning experience! Special congratulations go to Dr Wilson who was successful in winning the award; presented by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr David Grant, at the award ceremony that took place in Aberdare Hall on Monday 9th May.

It is hoped that the School will continue to be similarly involved in future awards.

Further details and photos of the award winners are available at the Cardiff University News Centre page.

Mathematics collaboration wins 2011 Cardiff University Innovation Prize

20/05/2011

Cardiff School of Mathematics and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have teamed-up to develop a number of collaborative projects – the centrepiece being the creation of a new MSc in Operational Research and Applied Statistics, a vocationally orientated course equipping University students with the skills needed for a tough jobs market.

As part of the new course, staff and students attend joint sessions with some lectures being delivered by staff from the ONS.

Martin Brand, Deputy Director of Methodology at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said: "Our unique wide-ranging partnership with Cardiff University has helped smooth the growth of ONS's office in South Wales and is a long-term commitment into the future.

"We have been able to work innovatively with the University to ensure that the new MSc has highly relevant practical content. This ensures that Cardiff postgraduates get the skills and experience needed to employ them within organisations like the ONS."

Other aspects of this multilayered collaboration include research into areas such as wellbeing, the economy and health. Student placements and projects are increasing at ONS which also offers prizes to outstanding students at the University.

The school would like to offer their congratulations to Professor Paul Harper, Director of the MSC programme, and his team.

For further information regarding this news story, and to watch a video explaining the colloboration between the Univeristy and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), please visit the Cardiff University News Pages.

Related Links

• Cardiff University Innovation Network
• School of Mathematics
• Office for National Statistics

MATHS staff appear on Pythagoras' Trousers

21/04/2011

Two members of staff at Cardiff School of Mathematics have recently made contributions to the online Science and Technology radio show Pythagoras' Trousers.

In the podcasts Dr Vincent Knight, a Research Associate at the School, discusses information regarding Game Theory in Episode #2.
Use the audio player below to listen to his podcast:

Professor Tim Phillips on the otherhand looks at Bubble Dynamics and discusses the effects and reasearch behind bubbles in Episode #32.
Use the audio player below to listen to his podcast:

For more information and to listen to related podcasts please visit http://www.pythagoras-trousers.co.uk

Dewi Owens

MSc Student Gains Internship

15/02/2011

Mr Dewi Owens, an MSc student studying at Cardiff University School of Mathematics has gained an Internship with the Royal Statistical Society. The role involves writing statistical interpretations of popular media stories.

Dewi believes that "The skills I am achieving while studying for an MSc at Cardiff School of Mathematics have proven invaluable in gaining an Internship at the Royal Statistics Society".

Having been in the post for the last couple of weeks Dewi has already posted his first article online. You can view the article by clicking here.

Cardiff School of Mathematics would like to congratulate Dewi and offer him every success in his new appointment at the Royal Statistical Society and his continuing studies.

80th European Study Group with Industry (ESGI)

14/01/2011

From Monday April 4th to Friday April 8th Cardiff School of Mathematics will host the (80th) European Study Group with Industry.

The ESGI is Europe's leading workshop bringing together academic mathematicians and industrial companies. This week-long workshop has been held annually since 1968. Since its beginning this is the first time an ESGI has been held in Wales.

The meeting is supported by a grant from EPSRC, and the KTN for Industrial Mathematics.

WIMCS Annual Meeting

06/12/2010

Cardiff University will host this years WIMCS Annual meeting. The meeting will take place from Monday 20th December to Wednesday 22nd December. The keynote speaker for this years event is Professor Lakshminarayanan Mahadeven from Havard University who's talk is entitled "On growth and form: geometry, physics and biology". More information regarding the event can be found at the WIMCS website.

MathSoc take on Physic in a University Challenge

05/11/2010

Cardiff MathSoc will be taking on the Physics department in a University Challenge. The competiton will be taking place at 6pm on Tuesday 23rd November 2010 in the Trevithick Building. Entry will cost £3 for MathSoc members and £4.50 for everybody else. For more information or if you are interested in being on the team please email Claire Williams.

Staff Member awarded Personal Chair

03/11/2010

The School would would like to offer their warmest congratulations to Professor Stefan Hollands who has been awarded a Personal Chair with effect from 1 November 2010.

Dr J E Jones receiving his award

Recognition of Service Award

01/11/2010

Dr J E Jones, a Reader in Applied Mathematics at Cardiff School of Mathematics has been recognised for his service to the school via the Universities Recognition of Service Award on 29th October 2010. He has worked for Cardiff University for 42 years this year, and has continued to contribute greatly to the School and the University

Cardiff School of Mathematics would like to thank him kindly for his contribution and offer their best wishes for the future.

Spectral Analysis of Relativistic Operators front cover

Mathematics staff celebrate after publishing new book

27/10/2010

Cardiff School of Mathematics would like to offer their warmest congratulations to two members of staff after the publication of their book. Professor Alexander Balinsky and Professor W Desmond Evans's book entitiled 'Spectral Analysis of Relativistic Operators' has been published by World Scientific Publishing and Imperial College Press.

For more information and to purchase the book please go to http://www.worldscibooks.com/mathematics/p566.html

Learned Society of Wales, Frontiers lecture - Sir Michael Atiyah

25/10/2010

Sir Michael Atiyah (Edinburgh) will visit Cardiff and give a distinguished lecture on 17 January 2011 on Geometry and Physics: Past, Present and Future. Full details are available here including details of registration.

Conference marking the birthdays of Professors D E Edmunds and W D Evans

07/10/2010

A 3-day conference will be held on December 18th, 19th and 20th to honour D.D.E. Edmunds and W.D. Evans. Full details can be found on the conference webpage.

Dr Steve Lind wins Prize for Best Thesis In Rheology

05/10/2010

Cardiff School of Mathematics is pleased to announce that Dr Steve Lind has been awarded the Vernon Harrison Annual Doctoral Prize of the British Society of Rheology for 2010. Steve completed his doctoral thesis on 'A Numerical Study of the Effect of Viscoelasticity on Cavitation and Bubble Dynamics', under the supervision of Professor Tim Phillips in July 2010. His research involved the development of boundary element and spectral element methods for predicting bubble growth and collapse in a number of configurations such as near a rigid wall and near a free surface. An understanding of the damage that can be caused by collapsing bubbles is important in areas such as acoustics and hydraulics, and in the medical field, particularly with the advent of ultrasound and laser techniques. Furthermore, the creation of bubbles within the body plays a crucial role in shock lithotripsy, drug delivery and tissue and cell damage.

The Vernon Harrison Annual Doctoral Prize of the British Society of Rheology is an award for the most distinguished PhD thesis in rheology. The aim of the award is to recognise excellence, creativity and novelty in research and is awarded to the postgraduate member who, in the opinion of the adjudicating committee, has made the most original and significant contribution to any branch of rheological research (experimental, computational or theoretical) leading to the award of a PhD degree in a given academic year.

Dr Lind will present his work and receive his award at this year's Midwinter Meeting of the British Society of Rheology which will be held at the University of Nottingham, 13-14 December 2010.

MATHS Outreach Workshop

08/09/2010

The School is pleased to be hosting the HE STEM More Maths Grads Workshop on 27 October 2010.

This free one day workshop aims to showcase the good practice and freely available resources and activities which were developed by the HEFCE funded pilot More Maths Grads project.   The workshop will also provide plenty of opportunities to share ideas with the other participants. The event is aimed at academics interested in mathematics outreach, mathematical sciences outreach staff and staff working within a central outreach capacity.

Please e-mail HESTEMmaths@ima.org.uk to register for this free event.

For more information please contact Professor Paul Harper

Graduation 2010

14/07/2010

The School would like to offer the warmest congratulations to all students graduating today. We hope you all have a memorable day with family and friends.

Prizewinners are:

Craig Jackson - IMA prize

Sophie Masters - ONS prize

Priya Narayan - IMA prize

Rachel Nash - PSI prize and LloydsTSB prize

Alex Thorne - School prize

The School would particularly like to offer congratulations to Nathan Cleverly and Alex Thorne for their achievements.

Informal photographs of the reception ceremony are available here.

Second MATHS undergraduate obtains research post

28/06/2010

Cardiff MATHS undergraduate Iain Reynolds will be joining Kirsty Robathan and starting a paid ten week research placement under the supervision of Dr Vincent Knight and Dr Janet Williams. Iain's project title is "Patient Choice: Discrete Event Simulation".

The aim of Iain's project is the creation of a simulation model that will allow for the investigation of multiple what if scenarios corresponding to different factors influencing patient choice in the NHS. Comparisons between the socially optimal (corresponding to a system with no choice) and the individually optimal (corresponding to a system with choice) outcomes will also be investigated.

Dr Vincent Knight and Dr Janet Williams were successful in applying to the EPSRC funded "Undergraduates as Researchers" programme to provide funding for a student to conduct research over the summer. Iain obtained this placement through a superb performance in his interview and a great show of enthusiasm. It is hoped that the work undertaken through this project will be presented at a major OR conference and contribute towards publication.

For more information on funding opportunities for undergraduate students, and for general information on the “Undergraduates as Researchers” scheme see the CUROP (Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme) website.

Third meeting of the EPSRC Matrix and Operator Pencil Network, MOPNET

24/06/2010

Cardiff School of Mathematics is pleased to announce that the third meeting of the EPSRC Matrix and Operator Pencil Network, MOPNET, will take place at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, September 20th-22nd 2010.

Invited speakers include:

• Dario Bini (Pisa)
• David Burton (Lancaster)
• Younes Chahlaoui (Manchester)
• Bernard Helffer (Paris Sud)
• YDaniel Kressner (ETH Zurich)
• Matthias Langer (Strathclyde)
• Michael Levitin (Reading)
• Nancy Nichols (Reading)
• Alastair Spence (Bath)

This meeting is additionally sponsored by the S&I consortium on Numerical Analysis and Intelligent Software (www.nais.org.uk) and is organized by Lyonell Boulton.

Full details are available here.

The MOPNET network is coordinated from Cardiff School of Mathematics, part of the Wales Institute of Mathematical and Computational Sciences.

One-day meeting for Honorary Distinguished Professor

23/06/2010

A one-day meeting will be held in Cardiff School of Mathematics on Friday 23rd of July to mark the award of a Cardiff University Honorary Distinguished Professorship to Professor Michael Solomyak of the Weizmann Institute. Invited speakers include:

• Rami Band, Weizmann Institute;
• Ari Laptev, Imperial College, London;
• Vitali Liskevich, WIMCS, University of Swansea;
• Yuri Netrusov, University of Bristol;
• Yuri Safarov, King's College, London;
• Alexander Sobolev, University College, London.

Full details are available here.

MATHS undergraduate obtains research post

07/06/2010

Cardiff MATHS undergraduate Kirsty Robathan has just commenced a paid ten week placement to conduct research alongside Dr Jonathan Gillard and Dr Rob Wilson. Her project title is "Measuring the Effectiveness of a Maths Support Service", and her work will involve a synthesis of statistical methodology and pedagogic research.

Specifically, the aims of her project are two-fold: 1. To conduct suitable exploratory and confirmatory statistical analyses on data pertaining to students attending maths support, to ascertain whether the service is effective. 2. To conduct a qualitative literature survey to explore the effectiveness of maths support services in other Mathematics departments.

Dr Gillard and Dr Wilson were successful in applying to the EPSRC funded "Undergraduates as Researchers" programme to provide funding for a student to conduct this research over the summer.

Kirsty was one of many outstanding applicants that applied to work with Dr Gillard and Dr Wilson, and performed superbly (amongst stiff competition) in her interview to secure the post.

It is hoped that Kirsty will be able to communicate her research findings throughout the University, and nationally through publications and presentations.

For more information on funding opportunities for undergraduate students, and for general information on the "Undergraduates as Researchers" scheme see the CUROP (Cardiff Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme).

EPSRC Award For Young Researcher

02/05/2010

Cardiff School of Mathematics is pleased to announce that Dr Mikhail Cherdantsev has been awarded a personal 3 year Postdoctoral Fellowship from EPSRC. Well done, Mikhail!

Penny Holborn receiving the prize for best presenation

Student awarded prize at UK PhD Conference in Operational Research

20/04/2010

Cardiff School of Mathematics wishes to congratulate Penny Holborn on being awarded the prize for the best presentation at the UK PhD Conference in Operational Research held and Nottingham University. Penny is a first year PhD student funded by the Science and Innovation initiative, and is supervised by Dr Jonathan Thompson and Dr Rhyd Lewis.

In addition, the chair of the conference organising committee has written to the university stating that all 7 presentations by the Cardiff OR PhD students were judged to be of very high quality.

Penny joins Cheryl Voake and Dr John Gillard in receiving similar awards in recent years - an achievement of which Cardiff School of Mathematics is very proud.

Lisa Taylor

125 Scholarship

11/03/2010

This year Cardiff University is celebrating its 125th anniversary.

As part of the celebrations, the University has launched the 125 for 125 Campaign to raise sufficient funds to provide a further 125 scholarships, bursaries and prizes for students studying at the University.

Lisa Taylor, a first year PhD Research student at cardiff School of Mathematics has won the Mathematics 125 Scholarship.

For more infomation regarding the 125th anniversary please click here

Professor Jeff Griffiths receiving the Beale Medal

Professor Jeff Griffiths awarded the Beale Medal of the Operational Research Society

01/12/2009

Cardiff School of Mathematics would like to offer it's warmest congratulations to Professor Jeff Griffiths who has been awarded the prestigious Beale Medal of the Operational Research Society.

The medal is the premier honour in the field of Operational Research, and is awarded ‘to give formal recognition to a sustained contribution over many years to the theory, practice, or philosophy of OR in the UK.  In any year, the award is made to the individual who, in the opinion of the Awards Committee, has made the most outstanding sustained contribution to Operational Research.’  The medal was presented to Professor Griffiths at the Blackett Memorial Lecture at the Royal Society on 3rd November.

The OR Society's Beale Medal is awarded in memory of the late Martin Beale FRS.

Dr Stefan Hollands awarded international prize in gravitational physics

01/12/2009

Cardiff School of Mathematics would like to offer it's congratulations to Dr Stefan Hollands on obtaining the "Basilis Xanthopoulos" international award for research on gravitational physics.

Basilis Xanthopoulos is an international prize awarded every 3 years to a researcher under the age of 40 in the area of "general relativity" who has made outstanding contributions to gravitational physics. The prize, established in memory of the late physicist Vasilis Xanthopoulos, is awarded jointly by the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH), one of Greece's largest research centers, and by the International Society for Gravitation. Candidates for the Award are considered by nomination only.

The award is presented during the conference of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation (GRG).

The next meeting will take place in Mexico-City in 2010. The prize includes a reward of approx. USD 10,000. Previous winners include:

Demetrios Christodoulu (ETH Zurich, CH)
Matt Choptuik (UBC, Vancouver, Canada)
Enna E. Flannagan (Cornell U., USA)
Martin Bojowald and Thomas Thiemann (Penn State U., USA, and Albert Einstein Institute, Germany)
Juan Maldacena (Princeton U. and IAS, USA)

Further information including other previous winners is available here.

EPSRC Network for the study of Matrix and Operator Pencils, MOPNET announced

17/07/2009

Cardiff School of Mathematics is pleased to announce the start of an EPSRC Network for the study of Matrix and Operator Pencils, MOPNET. The first meeting of the new network on September 14th and 15th is announced on the website.

Postgraduate Numerical Analysis Seminar Day

17/07/2009

Cardiff School of Mathematics is pleased to host the 5th Bath/ Brunel/Cardiff/Imperial/Oxford/Reading Postgraduate Numerical Analysis Seminar Day, on September 18th 2009.

MATHS undergraduate obtains research post

19/06/2009

Cardiff MATHS undergraduate Margaret Levi (who has just successfully completed her first year) is about to commence a paid ten week placement to conduct research alongside Dr Jonathan Gillard and Dr Rob Wilson. Her project title is “MATHS diagnostic testing – an evaluation and statistical analysis”, and her work will involve a synthesis of statistical methodology and pedagogic research.

Specifically, the aims of her project are two-fold:
1. To conduct suitable exploratory and confirmatory statistical analyses on data pertaining to student performance, primarily to explore potential relationships between recorded variables e.g. A-level points and performance on diagnostic tests.
2. To conduct a qualitative literature survey to explore alternative implementations of diagnostic testing, the effectiveness of diagnostic testing in other Mathematics departments (and other Schools in Cardiff University), and to investigate existing research on the value of diagnostic testing.

Dr Gillard and Dr Wilson were successful in applying to the EPSRC funded “Undergraduates as Researchers” programme to provide funding for a student to conduct this research over the Summer. The post was advertised to all students who have just completed their first year at MATHS.

Margaret was one of many outstanding applicants that applied to work with Dr Gillard and Dr Wilson, and performed superbly (amongst stiff competition) in her interview to secure the post.

It is hoped that Margaret will be able to communicate her research findings throughout the University, and nationally through publications and presentations.

5th Annual European Rheology Conference

29/01/2009

Cardiff University will be hosting the 5th Annual European Rheology Conference (AERC), 15-17 April 2009. The conference is being co-chaired by Professor Tim Phillips (Mathematics) and Professor Phil Bowen (Engineering) and is being organized through the auspices of the Institute of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics (Wales) and the British Society of Rheology. The aim of AERC 2009 is to contribute to the advancement of Rheology by bringing together interested researchers from Europe and the rest of the world, and bridging traditional themes with modern trends. The previous meetings in this series have been held in Guimarães, Grenoble, Crete and Naples.

Following the tradition of previous European Rheology meetings, AERC 2009 will be a three day conference split into symposia that reflect mainstream or emerging areas of Rheology. There will be symposia on blends, copolymers and nanocomposites; process modelling; rheometry and beyond: advanced experimental methods; interfacial phenomena, surfactants and foams; suspensions and colloids; viscoplasticity, solids rheology; biopolymers, biorheology and food rheology; constitutive modelling; non-Newtonian fluid mechanics; computational modelling;  flow-induced phase transitions and instabilities; industrial rheology and processing.

Conference highlights will include the ESR Weissenberg Award Lecture:
Professor Ole Hassager (Technical University of Denmark),
two BSR Gold Medal Lectures:
Professor Tom McLeish (Durham University)
Professor Mike Cates FRS (University of Edinburgh)
and three plenary lectures:
Professor Christian Bailly (Universite catholique de Louvain, Belgium)
Professor Jae Hyun (Korea University, Korea)
Professor Gareth McKinley (Massachussetts Institute of Technology, USA)
In addition, the meeting will include 11 keynote presentations, 200 oral presentations and more than 100 poster contributions. The detailed program will be available by March 13, 2009, and posted on the conference website.

For more information seeThe European Society of Rheology website.

Operational Research LANCS Initiative launched

15/06/2009

For more information please click here.

5th Wales Analysis Workshop

11/02/2009

Cardiff School of Mathematics will host the 5th Wales Analysis Workshop. The timetable for the Workshop on 11th February has been finalized, see here for details.

Congratulations to Final Year Student Nathan Cleverly

13/10/2008

The Cardiff School of Mathematics would like to offer its congratulations to Final Year student Nathan Cleverly on being crowned Commonwealth Light-Heavyweight boxing champion after beating Portsmouth's Tony Oakey in Liverpool on Friday, 10 October. Congratulations Nathan!

Cardiff University Sport & Exercise comment on the fight. BBC News Story