Message from the Executive Director
Dear friend of SMRI,
The easing of restrictions in 2022 has seen a welcome return of research and outreach activities at SMRI in the historic quadrangle at the University of Sydney. The past year has highlighted that SMRI is an institute of opportunities, thanks to the trust and support of our generous donors and the guidance of our advisory board and our scientific committee.
Opportunities to interact and build networks in person. At SMRI, we organised a highly interactive node for the
International Congress of Mathematicians, in addition to a special
seminar series that enables scientific exchange. Especially for new staff and early career researchers and students this has been transformative after the disruptions of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Opportunities to collaborate. With the easing of travel restrictions, our
international visitor program continues to enable research collaboration of Australia-based researchers with international collaborators. We hosted 36 international and domestic visitors in 2022, many of whom initially intended to arrive two years earlier!
Opportunities to connect with the general public. Two public lectures were particular highlights of this year. In March, Geordie Williamson talked about
Maths & AI and in November, Frank Calegari exposed
the secrets of Pi to start off his Mahler lecture tour.
Opportunities to help displaced scientists. As a result of the still ongoing invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, we put in place a program for
Ukrainian mathematical scientists, which remains open for applications throughout 2023.
As 2022 comes to a close, we now better understand the challenges and the benefits that arise from a blend of working from home, working on campus, and in-person or online collaboration. As hybrid formats for meetings, seminars and workshops continue to evolve, we are pleased that our focus on extended rather than short stays in Australia is the favoured format to collaborate on difficult research problems.
We thank Terry Tao, who ends his term on the
SMRI Advisory Board with the end of the year. Terry has devoted time and invaluable insights to SMRI since its inception in 2018. Terry will be succeeded by Akshay Venkatesh, who agreed to join the board from 2023, and we very much look forward to Akshay’s contributions to SMRI!
We thank our
Scientific Advisory Committee members Hugo Duminil-Copin, Susan Holmes, and Frances Kirwan, who end their terms this year. Hugo, Susan and Frances have been of tremendous help in shaping our visitors program over the past years. We welcome Vadim Gorin, Peter Mueller, and Zhiwei Yun who will step in their places and ensure the balance and quality of our visitors program in the years to come.
We thank Joel Gibson for his many contributions to SMRI, including helping to ensure the success of our special semester of
MLWM seminars. Joel is our first postdoctoral fellow solely based at SMRI, funded by generous donor support.
Looking ahead to 2023
In my first full year as Executive Director, I have been fortunate to work with a wonderful team that is dedicated, creative and effective. Under the guidance of the director, Geordie Williamson, our executive officer Kate Doyle, our administration officer Hannah Bryant, and our communications coordinator Larissa Fedunik have turned the above opportunities into ongoing activities. I’m truly looking forward to the next year, and part with only a glimpse of what is to come:
Postdocs. We are growing a cohort of postdoctoral fellows, funded by generous donor support.
Three further positions are currently advertised with a focus on applied mathematics or statistics and the interaction of mathematics and artificial intelligence. The closing dates for applications are in January 2023.
Themed semester. Building on the momentum created this year, we plan a focussed semester on "D-modules and representation theory" in the second half of 2023. This will be structured around lectures by Dragan Milicic and Geordie Williamson — stay tuned for more information!
International Day of Mathematics. Stay equally tuned for the announcement of a week-long program aimed at the general public and senior high school students around 14 March 2023 that we are curating with partners in the Sydney area.
With best wishes for the holiday season,
Stephan Tillmann
