WIMSIG NEWSLETTER — February 2023

WIMSIG Executive Committee

Thanks to all who nominated and voted in the recent election for the WIMSIG Executive Committee. As of February 1, the members of the committee are as follows:

  • Jennifer Flegg (Melbourne) — Chair
  • Catherine Greenhill (UNSW Sydney) — Immediate Past Chair
  • Serena Dipierro (UWA) — Secretary
  • Sevvandi Kandanaarachchi (CSIRO) — Treasurer
  • Xiaoping Lu (UOW) — Ordinary member
  • Marcy Robertson (Melbourne) — Ordinary member
  • Eva Cheng (ANU) — Student member

In addition, Shannon Algar (UWA) will continue as the Newsletter Editor and Amy Glen (Apple) will continue as the Website Editor.

On January 31, the terms of the following people came to a conclusion.

  • Valentina Wheeler (UOW) – Treasurer (2022)
  • Julia Collins (ECU) – Ordinary Member (2022)
  • Grace Garden (Sydney) — Student Member (2022)

A big thank-you to Valentina, Julia, and Grace for their time and energy in service to WIMSIG, and best wishes for their future endeavours.

AustMS Appreciation Award — Joanne Hall

In December 2022, the AustMS Council unanimously agreed to award Joanne Hall an AustMS Appreciation Award for “Exceptional service as the inaugural Editor of the WIMSIG newsletter”.  Congratulations Joanne on this very well-deserved award!

Results of WIMSIG Poll

Thanks to everyone who voted in our member poll in December.  There was very strong support for the proposal that members of the Statistical Society of Australia should be allowed to become members of WIMSIG, with nearly 90% of poll participants voting yes.  The implementation details of this will now be worked on by AustMS and SSA, with input from WIMSIG.  

The other question in the poll was about the name of the group.  Responses supported a change to include Statistics in the name of the group. However, an option which was proposed during the WIMSIG Business Meeting at AustMS, which would include Statistics but still keep the acronym “WIMSIG”, was unfortunately not included in the poll due to a technical error.  The WIMSIG Executive Committee has decided to keep the existing name for now, and will run another poll on the name of the group at some future point (ideally after SSA members have the ability to become WIMSIG members).  

In the next poll about the name of the group, it would be great to include an option which also reflects support for gender diverse members (not just women).  If you have a suggestion, please email wimsig-chair@austms.org.au and let us know!


WIMSIG Dinner at AustMS 2022

The WIMSIG Dinner at AustMS 2022 in December was very well attended, with around 160 participants enjoying the view, food and panel discussion. Thanks very much to our panellists Serena Dipierro, Lisa Piccirillo, Zsuzsanna Dansco, and Geetika Verma for your insightful and thought-provoking comments, and thanks to everyone who asked a question.

Earlier that day we held the WIMSIG Business Meeting in hybrid mode, updating members on what WIMSIG had been up to during 2022.


EVENTS

Women in Mathematics Lunch at ANZIAM 2023

As part of the upcoming ANZIAM 2023 Conference, there will be a Women in Mathematics Lunch (organised by WIMSIG) at 13:00 on Tuesday 7 February. The lunch is being held to support women, trans and gender diverse people, particularly early-career researchers, to enter and establish careers in mathematics.  

You’ll hear about the careers of the ANZIAM 2023 women plenary speakers, discuss issues concerning women, trans and gender diverse people in mathematics in Australia and New Zealand, and network with fellow WIMSIG members and supporters.  

Visit the WIMSIG Q&A page for information and advice from the women plenary speakers at past ANZIAM and AustMS conferences.

FourMal

FourMal is a series of online talks in Fourier Analysis and Machine Learning, organised by Geetika Verma (RMIT) and Jeff Hogan (Newcastle), designed to promote interaction between researchers in Harmonic Analysis and Machine Learning. For more information, see the flyer.

OPPORTUNITIES

Sydney Mathematical Research Institute (SMRI) International Visitor Program: applications open 

The IVP2023 February Round applications are now open. Researchers in the mathematical sciences from international and Australian universities who wish to do research at SMRI either individually or as part of a group of collaborators are warmly invited to apply. 

This round is for visits taking place between January — December 2024 for general applicants, and October 2023 — December 2024 for Australian & New Zealand citizens. 

Applications will close on Tuesday 21 February 2023 (23:59 AEDT).

Applications with the information requested in the terms and conditions can be made through the webform found on the IVP webpage https://mathematical-research-institute.sydney.edu.au/international-visitor-program/. 

If you have existing or potential research collaborators who may want to spend some time working at SMRI, please direct them to the website and encourage them to apply. 

(NB: The next application deadline is expected to open between June and August 2023.) 

MEDIA

Have you read an interesting article? Have some news? Have an opportunity available?

Please send items to WIMSIG-news@austms.org.au.

Note: Newsletters are published on the 1st day of each month (or soon after). The deadline for submitted items is the 27th day of each month.

To keep in touch in between newsletters, follow @wimsigAU on Twitter.