School of Mathematics
The School of Mathematics is a multinational place, with staff from all over the world.
The diversity of talent and training fosters a unique outward-looking school that connects with mathematics worldwide.
The school has more than doubled in size over the last decade. Our growth has been stimulated by mathematics and statistics being vitally important disciplines that underpin a vast range of human endeavours, and with the increasing quantification and digitisation of the world they are set to become even more important.
Not only have we grown, but our research quality has become even better as shown in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014. This means that undergraduates in the School of Mathematics have access to some of the best brains in mathematics and statistics in the country.
We have top professors, including Fellows of the Royal Society, teaching some of our first-year courses, giving tutorials and undertaking projects with undergraduates.
Over the last few years we have invested heavily in our teaching programme. Some highlights are: introduction of a Maths Cafe to provide additional tutorial support; creation of a new 'Student Quiet Room' to enable mathematics students to work solely or in groups right here in the Maths building; revamping of the student feedback system; running focus groups; strongly supporting Matrix, the student society; and running 'top teachers' lists.
The future for the school is certainly bright. In 2016, the building formerly occupied by the School of Biological Sciences - a prime location close to the Wills Building complex and Queen's Road - will be refurbished and reconfigured to meet the needs of a 21st-century school of mathematics with teaching spaces in various sizes, plenty of interaction spaces for students and staff, quiet space and library space.
This new development will give Mathematics the top-class home it deserves and will provide an excellent environment for the future researchers and students to excel in the mathematical sciences for years to come.
All academic staff in the school are active in research, and we are one of the strongest mathematics schools in Europe in terms of research. Our research effort is divided into three groups: Applied Mathematics, Pure Mathematics, and Probability, Analysis and Dynamics.
Members of the school interact with colleagues from a wide variety of disciplines ranging from physics, to social sciences, to biology, to medicine.
We also collaborate with other organisations, ranging from short-term research consultancies to long-term research contracts. Recent examples include, Hewlett Packard, QinetiQ, Unilever, Barclays Bank, National Air Traffic Services.
There are also strong links between the school's research interests and those of the Heilbronn Institute.
