Welcome to the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) blog. The IMA is the UK's learned and professional society for mathematics and its applications. We promote mathematics research, education and careers, and the use of mathematics in business, industry and commerce. Among our activities we produce academic journals, organise conferences and engage with government.

In this blog we will publish mathematical articles and news to reflect the interests of our members who come from a multiplicity of different organisations including university academics, industrial mathematicians, financiers, school teachers, scientists, civil servants etc.

Monday 23 April 2012

Call for nominations for the IMA Early Career Mathematician GroupCommittee

Update (15/05/2012): Early Career Mathematicians Group Election.

The Early Career Mathematicians' (ECM) group of the IMA continues to be a great success with activities and conferences being planned all year round, and an ever-growing active presence on Social Media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. The group has grown from strength to strength because of the enthusiasm and commitment of the ECM Committee.

Four vacancies (descriptions below) will open up on the ECM Committee this July, and we are looking for more fun, enthusiastic & committed ECM members to join the committee, and build on the great work we have achieved so far.

Please e-mail Benjamin.Dias@Unilever.com andSusan.Bolton@ima.org.uk if you would like to put yourself forward for any of these vacancies, or would like further information. You may also nominate someone else who you think will be willing and able to take on these roles.

The deadline for nominations will be the 31st of May. All Early Career Mathematicians (ECMs)* who are members of any grade (e.g. Member, Associate Member, Student Member, etc.) of the IMA are eligible, so get your Nominations in ASAP!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Kind Regards,
Ben

Dr. M. Benjamin Dias MIMA
Chairperson
Early Career Mathematicians' Committee
Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

1] Vice Chair and Chair-Designate (Term of office: 1 Year):
The Vice Chair supports the Chair, arranges committee meetings, records and circulates committee discussions and actions. The Vice Chair is also the Chair-Designate and is expected to take over as new Chair the following year.
[The Chair (Term of office: 1 Year) provides leadership and a focus for the group, acts as a direct liaison to the IMA Council and Secretariat, and is also responsible for coordinating responses to e-mails sent to the IMA ECM email mailbox.]

2] Conference Leader-Designate (Term of office: 1 Year):
The Conference Leader-Designate supports the IMA Conference Officer in organizing in advance, the two ECM Conferences for the following year, by identifying a suitable location, securing speakers and pulling together a suitable programme. The Conference Leader-Designate is also expected to take over as the new Conference Leader the following year.
[The Conference Leader (Term of office: 1 Year) hosts the two ECM Conferences that take place during their year of office, and liaises with the IMA Conference Office on behalf of the ECM Committee regarding all conference related queries.]

3] Promotion Leader (Term of office: 1 Year):
The Promotion Leader coordinates the promotion of the IMA, the ECM group and Mathematics to ECMs (by for example organizing ECM social and networking events), and also coordinate the promotion of the ECM group's activities to the wider IMA membership (for example via Mathematics Today articles and the IMA Social Media platforms).

4] Engagement Leader (Term of office: 1 Year):
The Engagement Leader’s role is to encourage ECM members to engage more actively with the IMA by upgrading their membership, gaining Chartership designation and engaging with the IMA in their local areas, either by being involved with their local branch or setting one up where no local branch exists. The Engagement Leader also liaises with the IMA University Liaison Officer to encourage ECM support for IMA activities aimed at engaging with university students.

* Early Career Mathematicians (ECMs) are defined as:
  • Mathematicians within 15 years of graduating from a university Mathematics degree, or
  • Members of the IMA who do not have a degree and are within the first 15 years of the first time they joined the IMA

Friday 20 April 2012

 

A call for sponsorship of the 50th Anniversary of the IMA

The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014. This is a first call for interested parties to become involved in the support and sponsorship of events to publicise mathematics and the hugely important role that it plays in the modern world, together with the 50 years of support to mathematics and mathematicians given by the IMA. Sponsors of the IMA events will have a unique opportunity to raise their profile and address the wider mathematics community: students, teachers, early career graduates, and professional mathematicians within commercial sectors, public sectors and academia. Through doing this they will both position themselves centrally within this important national community and align their company with the excellence and aspirations of mathematics and its applications.

The IMA at 50

To celebrate 50 years of achievement, the IMA plans an exciting series of events during 2014. These will look forward to the developments and limitless opportunities for the applications of mathematics in the next 50 years and celebrate the achievements of the past. Plans include regional meetings, competitions and a book, but most importantly:

Mathematics for Everyone at Manchester: a look to the future involving academia, schools and industry aimed to enthuse the next generation of mathematicians

An afternoon of mathematics at the Royal Society, London: celebrating the last 50 years


These events are an exciting and unique opportunity to celebrate the centrality of mathematics in modem life, and the role played by the IMA in its development.


Sponsorship and Involvement

We are seeking sponsorship and involvement from all users of mathematics: to support the planned events (contributions from £10,000), and encourage younger participants through prizes at the events and online (contributions in the order of £5,000). Early sponsorship will give you high profile in all of the advertisement materials and promotional events directed at a wide number of participants in academia, schools and industry in the two year build up to the anniversary, as well as a high profile in the events during 2014. It will also guarantee a permanent record of your support in the published book.


Sustainability

We also want to make sure that we produce a continuing legacy for mathematics. Therefore our fundraising target will also consider sustainability and, of the funds that we will raise, 40% will be used in 2014 and 60% over the following three years.

I do hope that you will feel able to sponsor our IMA Golden Jubilee!
To contact us to discuss how you could be involved email the IMA Executive Director, David Youdan david.youdan@ima.org.uk and the IMA@50 coordinator Chris Budd, mascjb@bath.ac.uk

Professor Robert MacKay FRS FInstP C Math FIMA
IMA President