OPTIMA Postdoctoral Research Fellow

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University of Melbourne

Closing Date: 14th June 2021

The Research Fellow is expected to conduct world-class research and provide training for research students working in industrial optimisation as a key appointee in a newly established ARC Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies and Applications (OPTIMA). The research program involves a focus on model-based and black-box optimisation methodologies of relevance to a broad range of industry partner optimisation challenges. A multidisciplinary approach is expected, drawing from techniques developed in mathematics, computer science, statistics, engineering, and economics.

We invite applications from Level A and Level B candidates. Although advertised full-time, part-time working hours and flexible conditions will be considered.

For more information and to apply, click here.

The mathematical sciences in Australia: mid-term review

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The National Committee for the Mathematical Sciences is currently conduction a mid-term review of the decadal plan The Mathematical Sciences in Australia: A Vision for 2025. I would like to encourage all members of the AustMS to contribute to the review. With the mathematical sciences in Australia facing significant pressures, it is important that we clearly enunciate our recent achievements and priorities & vision for the future.

S. Ole Warnaar

President of AustMS

Integrable Systems in Geometry and Mathematical Physics, Conference in Memory of Boris Dubrovin (online, 28 June to 2 July 2021)

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The notion of integrable system in classical mechanics dates back to Joseph Liouville and has an illustrious and long history; it has since expanded considerably and received input from distant areas of mathematics and physics like  algebraic geometry, symplectic topology, string-theory, combinatorics, statistical mechanics, stochastic models and more. The conference aims at bringing together leading mathematicians that have contributed and are contributing to the success and dissemination of methods and ideas originating from integrable systems in all areas of mathematics and physics.

The conference is  in memory of Boris Dubrovin (1950 – 2019), whose activity in the past forty years has been a driving force and a reference beacon for many researchers in Mathematical Physics and Geometry.

Preliminary list of speakers:

Anne Boutet de Monvel (Paris VI, France), Gaetan Borot (TU Berlin), Alexander Buryak (Leeds, UK),  Mattia Cafasso (Angers, France)
Mauro Carfora (Pavia, Italy),  Guido Carlet  (Dijon, France),  Tom Claeys (UCLouvain, Belgium)
Vladimir Dragovic (UT Dallas, USA),  Yakov Eliashberg  (Stanford, USA), Gregorio Falqui (Milano Bicocca, Italy), Giovanni Felder  (ETH, Zurich, CH), Evgeny Ferapontov (Loughbourough, UK),  Alexander Givental (Berkeley, USA),  Claus Hertling, (Mannheim, Germany),  Alexander  Its (Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianpolis, USA),  Nalini Joshi (Sidney, AU), Christian Klein, (Dijon, France), Dmitry Korotkin (Concordia, CA),  Igor Krichever (Columbia, USA and Skoltech, Moscow), Arno  Kuijlaars  (KU Leuven Belgium),  Marta Mazzocco (Birmingham, UK),  Ken McLaughlin (Fort Collins, USA),  Sergei P. Novikov* (Steklov, Moscow and UMD, Maryland, USA), Andrei Okounkov (Columbia, USA), Vasilisa Shramchenko (Sherbook, CA), Ian Strachan (Glasgow, UK), Alexander Veselov (Loughborough, UK),  Lauren Williams (Harvard)  Di Yang (Hefei, China), Youjin Zhang (Tsinghua, China),  Don Zagier (ICTP, Trieste Italy  and  Max Planck Bonn, Germany)

See the website at https://indico.sissa.it/event/41/

Mathematics of Conformal Field Theory II (July 5–9)

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The 2020 conference “The Mathematics of Conformal Field Theory II” was postponed due to the pandemic. We are happy to announce that it has now been approved to go ahead at the Mathematical Sciences Institute of the ANU from July 6-9. Furthermore, the conference will be preceded by a day of talks celebrating Peter Bouwknegt’s 60th birthday on July 5.

The majority of talks will be in-person at the ANU, following  appropriate COVID-safe protocols. These will be complemented by zoom talks from international speakers. The themes of the conference are  being interpreted broadly and will thus cover a wide range of topics connected to conformal field theory.

Confirmed speakers include:
– Arnaud Brothier (UNSW)
– Ilka Brunner (Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich)
– Nora Ganter (Melbourne)
– Pinhas Grossman (UNSW)
– Yi-Zhi Huang (Rutgers University)
– Jock McOrist (New England)
– Alexander Molev (Sydney)
– Krzysztof Pilch (University of Southern California)
– Thomas Quella (Melbourne)
– Jorgen Rasmussen (Queensland)
– Anna Romanov (Sydney)
– Kareljan Schoutens (University of Amsterdam)
– Christoph Schweigert (University of Hamburg)
– Gabriele Tartaglino-Mazzucchelli (Queensland)
– Mathai Varghese (Adelaide)
– Siye Wu (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)

Registration for the conference and birthday celebration is now open at the following website:

https://maths.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/mathematics-conformal-field-theory-ii

We also invite abstracts for contributed talks and encourage researchers at all career stages to apply.

Please note that we will of course need to be flexible with our arrangements in case of any changes to the domestic COVID situation.

Community Petition Against University of Newcastle Job Cuts

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The University of Newcastle has announced a major restructuring of the university that will affect hundreds of staff. If plans proceed unchanged, Mathematics and Statistics will be severely impacted with a large number of staff losing their position at the university. I call on all members of the Society to support their colleagues at Newcastle and sign the petition here.

S. Ole Warnaar, President of AustMS

Applications are now open for the 2021 AMSI Winter School

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AMSI and QUT are proud to present the 2021 Winter School on Statistical Data Science from 12-23 July.

For the first time, the program will be hosted virtually with options for students to attend event hubs in selected states. Boasting an impressive speaker line-up, attendees can delve deeper into modules focusing on Bayesian statistics, modern neural networks, and advanced Markov chains and Monte Carlo methods.

This event is aimed at postgraduate students, early career researchers and industry professionals wanting to sharpen their skills.

Program details are here below:

Event: AMSI Winter School 2021

Dates: 12 – 23 July

Where: Virtual program, with selected event hubs for those who wish to meet face-to-face

Theme: Statistical Data Science, featuring modules on:

  • Bayesian Statistics
  • Advanced Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods
  • Likelihood-free inference
  • Modern neural networks
  • Dimension reduction for high dimensional data

Website: https://ws.amsi.org.au/

Applications are now open and will close at 11.59pm on Sunday 20 June.

Scholarships are also available to AMSI Member students requiring financial assistance to cover program fees. To apply, go to https://ws.amsi.org.au/apply-for-a-scholarship/

For any further enquiries, please contact coordinator_rhed@amsi.org.au

If you are an academic and know of someone who may be interested in attending, we encourage you to forward this email and spread the word about the program.

Best wishes,

Anna Muscara
Project Coordinator, Research & Higher Education 

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Statistics

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University of Oxford
Department of Statistics

Closing Date: 2nd June 2021

Grade 7: £32,817 – £40,322 p.a.

Applications are invited for a full-time Postdoctoral Research Associate in Statistics to carry out research in the area of developing characterisations of network models and interactions with methods in statistical machine learning. You will provide guidance to junior members of the research group including project students and PhD students. You will manage your own academic research and administrative activities, prepare working theories and analyse qualitative and/or quantitative data, contribute ideas for new research projects, as well as develop ideas for generating research income. You will present detailed research proposals to senior researchers and collaborate in the preparation of research publications. You will act as a source of information and advice to other members of the group on methodologies or procedures and represent the research group at external meetings and seminars.

As the successful Postdoctoral Research Associate in Statistics, you will hold or be close to completion of a relevant PhD, together with relevant experience, in the area of probability or statistical machine learning. You will possess sufficient specialist knowledge in probability theory and statistical machine learning and have the ability to manage own academic research and associated activities. Previous experience of contributing to publications and presentations is essential. Ideally, you will possess specialist knowledge on Stein’s method or network analysis.

Queries about this post should be addressed to: Gesine.Reinert@stats.ox.ac.uk.

This post is fixed-term for three years.

Research Software Engineer

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University of Oxford
Department of Statistics

Closing Date: 3rd June 2021

Grade 7: £32,817 – £40,322 p.a. 

Research Software Engineer Applications are invited for a full-time Research Software Engineer to join the Oxford Protein Informatics Group (OPIG). We are recruiting to the vacancy now, for someone to start as soon as possible. You will support the deployment, maintenance, future developments and integration of OPIG’s world-leading immunoinformatics computational tools for pharmaceutical companies, and expand the network of our industrial partners. This exciting position is part of a unique team within the University and will provide an unrivalled and privileged opportunity to interact directly with a highly productive academic group and many pharmaceutical companies.

With a relevant or close to completion PhD/DPhil and post-qualification research experience, your track record will include significant coding experience in a variety of languages and platforms, particularly Python. Prior experience of collaboratively developing software tools in the areas of computational chemistry, structural biology/bioinformatics, statistics or machine learning will be advantageous. Alongside these responsibilities, you will carry out research and develop novel methodologies in at least one of the OPIG research areas; contribute ideas for new research projects; develop ideas for generating research income and act as a source of information and advice for other members of the research group.

This post is fixed-term for 3 years in the first instance.

Only applications received before 12.00 midday on 3 June 2021 will be considered. Interviews will be held on 18 June 2021.

For more information and to apply, click here.

More for Women in Mathematics Day

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As part of the upcoming International Women in Mathematics day celebrations in May, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS) is proud to present a free virtual public lecture with mathematician, musician and author Dr Eugenia Cheng.

Dr Eugenia Cheng has been featured in the New York Times, presented TED Talks, written several books, and even appeared on “The Late Show with Steven Colbert“. Her most recent book, X + Y, a Mathematician’s Manifesto for Rethinking Gender, tackles the issue of gender inequality and argues that her mathematical specialty, category theory, reveals why.

About this lecture:  “Inclusion-Exclusion in the mathematical sciences: who is kept out, and how we can use maths to bring them in”

The question of why women and minorities are under-represented in mathematics is complex and there are no simple answers, only many contributing factors. Dr Cheng will draw on a combination of precise mathematical reasoning, techniques of abstract mathematical thinking, and her experiences as a woman in the male-dominated field of mathematics. She will argue that if we focus on character traits rather than gender we can have a more productive and less divisive conversation about maths and beyond. She will present a new theory for doing so, showing that we can use abstract mathematical thinking to work towards a more inclusive  society in this politically divisive era.

Dr Cheng will also present the abstract field of Category Theory as a particularly inclusive subject area according to the dimensions of her new theory, and demonstrate its scope for deepening the curiosity and social awareness of high school students, rather than just pushing and evaluating them. This goes against the assumption that abstract mathematics can only be taught to high level undergraduates and graduate students, and the accusation abstract mathematics is removed from real life. No prior knowledge will be needed.

For more information about the event, head to: https://acems.org.au/events/eugenia-cheng-acems-lecture

The Road Ahead for Women in STEM – Virtual Panel Discussion

When: Wednesday 12 May, 12pm-1pm AEST

Where: The panel discussion will be online via zoom webinar. Please register to receive the zoom link.

Register here

As part of the celebration of International Women in Mathematics Day, we’d like to invite you to join us for an engaging panel discussion that brings together some top leaders in education in Australia.

The aim of the discussion is to be forward-looking and to explore how we can get more women in higher-level positions in universities, as well as more women in STEM and, specifically, the mathematical sciences. The panellists will examine why this is so important and look at the benefits of having more diversity in these different areas.

Panelists

  • Professor Ana Deletic Executive Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology
  • Professor Moira O’Bryan Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne
  • Professor Asha Rao Associate Dean, Mathematical Sciences, RMIT University

Moderator

  • Dr Rachael Quill Research Fellow, University of Melbourne, ACEMS Associate Investigator & Chair of the ACEMS Equity & Diversity Committee

Women in Mathematics Day

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We are very excited to announce the Women in Mathematics Day to be held on Thursday 13th of May in Western Sydney University starting at 3:30pm both in person and via Zoom. The day is around the Maryam Mirzakhani birthday, who was the first ever woman who won the Fields medal. The event consists of talks by

  • Julia Collins (Edith Cowan University)
  • Luci Ellis (Reserve Bank of Australia)
  • Mary Myerscough (University of Sydney)
  • Rosalind Wang (Western Sydney University)

The goal of the day is to celebrate the achievements of women in STEM and to encourage an open, welcoming and inclusive work environment for everybody. Please join us and confirm your attendance here.

Best wishes, Roozbeh Hazrat