--------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEWTON INSTITUTE CORRESPONDENTS' BULLETIN
No 25 - September 2010
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR INFORMATION:
1. Annual Meeting of Correspondents
2. Staff changes
3. New Director of the Institute
4. New twice-yearly newsletter
FOR DISTRIBUTION TO RELEVANT DEPARTMENTS OR GROUPS:
5. LMS childcare supplementary grants
6. Programme announcements
7. Workshop announcements
8. Rothschild Visiting Professor seminar to be given on 6th December 2010
9. Fields Medallist seminar to be given on Monday 15th November 2010
10. Reminders on: Correspondents' web page; short visits; seminars at your institution; Junior membership scheme; video seminars on the web.
The 2010 Annual Meeting of Correspondents was held on Tuesday 8 June 2010, with Caroline Series in the Chair. After a welcome to the Institute by Director David Wallace, the meeting received reports from Institute staff, following which the meeting divided into discussion groups in which Institute policies were debated and then reported back to a final plenary session. As in 2009, this format was successful in facilitating maximum participation by Correspondents in the meeting.
In 2010 the following topics were discussed:
a. Website design. Sara Wilkinson (INI Librarian and Information Officer) and Steve Greenham (INI Audio-Visual Technician) presented a possible design for a new-look Institute website.
b. Ben Mestel (INI Deputy Director) reported on Institute outreach activities including the Imaginary Exhibition, Women in Mathematics two-day event, Open for Business activities and Energy Systems Week.
c. David Wallace (INI Director) reported on the Cross Research Council Grant Application, which would be submitted to the Research Councils by the end of June. The purpose of the application was to bridge the gap between the Institute's costs and the 85% of activities supported by EPSRC.
d. Correspondents were given an update on Gender balance Action Plan and on the procedure for the selection of a new Director of the Institute from October 2011 onwards.
In addition to the formal Correspondents business, the meeting heard two seminars, one by Nicolai Krylov (Minnesota) on Stochastic partial differential equations and their applications and the second by Ray Goldstein (Cambridge) on Evolution of biological complexity
After the meeting, the Correspondents attending were balloted on their opinion on their opportunity as a Correspondent to input into the direction of the Institute. The result was: 91% were either Satisfied of Highly Satisfied. (The full result was: Highly satisfied 41%; Satisfied 50%; Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied 9%; Dissatisfied 0%; Highly Dissatisfied 0%)
We welcome Susan Simpson who joins us from Leeds Metropolitan University as cover for Sarah Fendt who is now on maternity leave. Susan will be with us for a 12 month period taking on the role of Director's Administrative Assistant. We are also pleased to welcome Enid Woods, who has kindly offered her services as a part-time volunteer in the Institute Library.
Following advertisements in National and International press, the selection process for the new Institute Director is underway. It is expected that the new Director designate will be announced by November 2010.
The Institute will be producing a twice-yearly newsletter, edited by Sara Wilkinson (Library and Information Officer). The newsletter will be delivered to UK Mathematical Sciences researchers (via our Correspondent network) and to other stakeholders including funding councils, learned societies, donors and other friends of the Institute. The first edition will be winging its way to you in October 2010.
The London Mathematical Society will provide up to GBP200 to mathematicians, working in the UK, and who are attending conferences and meetings and making research visits, to cover extra costs incurred in looking after children either at home or (when necessary) at the place visited. This includes visits to the Newton Institute. The scheme is administered by the LMS Women in Mathematics Committee. Please email for more information.
A full list of programmes is at www.newton.ac.uk/programmes/
A full list of forthcoming workshops is at www.newton.ac.uk/events.html
6 December 2010 17.00 - 18.00 (Isaac Newton Institute, Seminar Room 1) Professor Tim Palmer (University of Oxford and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
To receive regular announcements of the Monday Seminars, subscribe at Monday Seminars Mailing List
We congratulate Cedric Villani who was named a 2010 Fields Medallist at the International Congress of Mathematics in Hyderabad recently. Cedric is Head of the Henri Poincare Institute and a member of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, as well as being a member of the Institute's Scientific Steering Committee. He will be giving a seminar on his groundbreaking work on Monday 15th November 2010 at the Institute at 5 pm.
Correspondents’ web page; short visits; seminars at your institution; Junior Membership scheme:
This bulletin is sent in January, May and September each year. We hope you find it a useful way of keeping in touch and a helpful source of information to distribute to your colleagues. As always, the Director is very happy to receive comments or suggestions regarding the Institute and its activities, including possibilities for future programmes: david.wallace@newton.ac.uk. He or the Deputy Director, Dr Ben Mestel, b.mestel@newton.ac.uk would be very pleased to visit your institution to talk about the Institute, what's happening here, and to hear your views.