Maths Miniatures 2018

A short film competition for schools and colleges across the UK Over the summer term talented young mathematicians and film makers across England and Wales accepted the challenge to make a film about mathematics in the natural world. The competition, organized collaboratively through MathsWorldUK, UK Mathematics Trust, and the University of Leeds, required students from 11-18 years of age to work in teams to produce a 3 minute video communicating a feature in the natural world and the mathematics behind it. There was an exciting range of topics from epidemiology to ...

Read More


Cambridge Mathematician is Awarded One of Four 2018 Fields Medals

Professor Caucher Birkar, from the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics at the University of Cambridge is one of four recipients of the 2018 Fields Medals. He was awarded the prize for his work on on categorising different kinds of polynomial equations. Professor Birkar came to this country as a political asylum seeker from a Kurdish province in Iran. He completed his PhD at the University of Nottingham in 2004. The Fields Medal is like the 'Nobel Prize’ of mathematics and is awarded every four years. Professor Birkar was given the award at ...

Read More


A message from our CEO

Hello MathsWorldUK supporters, I’m very pleased to be given the opportunity to lead MathsWorldUK. A real interactive mathematics museum is exactly what the UK needs. I’m eager to show the many faces of maths to the public and eager to see the public get stuck into mathematics games, magic, challenges, history and fun. We know we have a skills gap in mathematics in the UK as well as a cultural misunderstanding of the nature of the subject. A physical exploration space is one way we can tackle the misconceptions surrounding our subject. The museum will bring ...

Read More


MathsWorldUK appoints its first Chief Executive Officer

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Katie Chicot as Chief Executive Officer of MathsWorldUK. The appointment is for one year in the first instance, but we hope it will be extended into many future years. Currently, Katie is STEM Staff Tutor and Senior Lecturer at The Open University. She will take up her post on 4th June 2018. In the first year in post Katie will be on secondment from the Open University, so there will be an ongoing link between the OU and MWUK. Katie was appointed from a strong field of applicants. We are all looking forward to working with ...

Read More


British Girl Shares Gold Medal in European Girls Mathematical Olympiad

The 2018 European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad has just taken place in Florence. Emily Beatty, the British team's best performer, achieved a perfect score of 42 out of 42, and shared the Gold Medal for first prize. Overall, the British team finished in third place out of 52 countries. The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust together with the investment firm Man AHL, which sponsors the UK team, issued a press release, an extract of which can be viewed here.

Read More


MathsWorldUK Norton Appeal

A benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has promised to donate £125000 to MathsWorldUK, provided we can match fund this pound-for-pound within a year of this donation. We need to raise at least a further £125000 within the coming year to match this offer. The money raised will be used to kick-start a touring exhibition devoted entirely to mathematics and to applications of mathematics. We anticipate the overall research, development and construction of the exhibition will eventually cost upwards of £700000. We hope that it will be possible to get the exhibition up and running by the end of 2021, but this will depend on the generosity of all those willing to donate to this appeal. We appeal to individuals, industrial and commercial organizations, philanthropic foundations, and other interested parties to make donations for this development.

Read More


MWUK Newsletter #3

Our third newsletter is now available to view and download right here!

Read More


Seeking a Chief Executive Officer

This position is no longer available. We are looking to appoint a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to lead and support MATHSWORLDUK in working towards our ultimate mission of establishing in the UK the first National Mathematics Discovery Centre – an interactive museum space devoted solely to Mathematics and its applications. We are involved in a range of activities with outcomes related to this objective, including starting to plan a Touring Exhibition devoted to Mathematics. The CEO will be a key member of the management group, reporting to a Chairman of the ...

Read More


Alan Turing Institute

The Alan Turing Institute has appointed Professor Sir Adrian Smith FRS as Institute Director. Professor Smith, currently Vice Chancellor at the University of London, will take up his new role in autumn this year, succeeding Professor Sir Alan Wilson. Adrian Smith was previously Director General of Knowledge and Innovation in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (now BEIS). Prior to this he was Principal of Queen Mary University of London after holding a number of posts at Imperial College, London, including Professor of Statistics and Head of the ...

Read More


Mathematics’ Biggest Prize

Three top University of California at San Diego scientists were awarded the world’s richest science prize, established five years ago by a team including the founders of Google and Facebook. Out of the seven $3 million Breakthrough Prize awards for 2018, San Diego scientists won two, with a third shared equally with a collaborator. The award is worth about twice the value of the Nobel Prize. Plant scientist Joanne Chory of the Salk Institute won an award for her work in life sciences. And Biomedical researcher Don W. Cleveland of University of California San ...

Read More