THE INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS
AND ITS APPLICATIONS

IMA Youth Conference

Tuesday 8 June 2004 – at De Morgan House, London

The Scientific Committee had asked for this first event to be held in the evening rather than as a daytime event to facilitate attendance by a wider range of younger members after their normal working day. Accordingly the Hardy Room was booked for the evening of Tuesday 8^th June at De Morgan House in London.

We were hoping to attract up to 30 younger members and I am pleased to report that a total of 17 attended the event and a lively and informative evening was enjoyed by all present. Our thanks go to Amanda Padbury (Chair) and to Andrew Collins who did an excellent job as the scientific committee. Delegates from a wide range of backgrounds included the fields of insurance, banking, teaching, simulation modelling, business development in university research, defence research and a charitable trade organisation.

The programme for the evening was as publicised and is given below:

18.00 – 18.45	Arrival and Sandwich Refreshments
18.45 – 18.50	Cookie Liu, CMath MIMA What can we learn from Ethnographers
18.50 – 18.55	Nira Chamberlain, CMath MIMA Simulation Modelling in the Defence Industry
18.55 – 19.00	Dr Aled Jones, FIMA Selling Mathematics
19.00 – 19.45	Professor Fred Piper CMath FIMA, Royal Holloway, University of London Mathematics of Cryptography
19.45 – 20.15	Dr Richard Hadji, CMath MIMA, Dstl Unravelling the Secrets of Knot Theory
20.15 – 20.30	Break
20.30 – 21.00	Open floor discussion on Young members in the IMA
21.00 – 21.15	Summary, Roundup and Close.

Several delegates commented that this was the first time they had been encouraged to take part in an IMA event and all were enthusiastic about holding it as a regular gathering. The scientific committee stated that they had received more offers to speak than they could include in this first youth evening and so a repeat in six months rather than just an annual event would be favoured to capture this rising interest.

During the final discussion session, it emerged that extending the definition of ‘younger members’ to ‘under 40’ would permit several recently enthusiastic and active members of the group to remain involved in the development of future events. The majority of members present reported the positive value of becoming Members, Fellows and of the designation CMath to their professional standing with their employers and within their professions. Initiatives already underway such as the Initial Professional Development scheme and more detailed guidelines for making the transition from AMIMA to MIMA were discussed together with the need for more local branches to develop membership numbers and attract younger mathematicians to the Institute.

Malcolm Davies