The Mathematics Institute

is the name of our building on Central Campus (we moved from Gibbet Hill in December 2003). It is also the description of a grander concept embracing the Mathematics Research Centre, Mathematical Interdisciplinary Research at Warwick, the Centre for Scientific Computing and other research groups that give Warwick its international reputation in the mathematical sciences. We are also known by our administrative title The Department of Mathematics.

The Department of Mathematics is responsible for

• Undergraduate Programmes (the teaching and administration of its degree courses)
• Postgraduate Programmes (the taught Masters Degrees and the research PhD Degrees)
• Research (an imperative for all academic staff that carries equal weight to teaching)

The Department's funding is closely tied to its success in all these areas and most directly to its research performance. The Department is internationally renowned for the quality of its research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, Warwick Pure Mathematics was ranked 2nd highest in the UK. Warwick Applied Mathematics came equal first (with Oxford and Cambridge) for the proportion of its research that received the top ''world-leading'' rating.

Creative mathematicians working at the cutting edge of research make exciting teachers. Their enthusiasm is infectious, their work at the frontiers of knowledge informs their lectures. The many graduate students here to earn their PhDs provide small group teaching to undergraduates in highly praised "supervisions". Mathematics is a flourishing and vigorous discipline, constantly redefining itself and finding new applications to modern life and technology.

Graduate students supervising groups of undergraduates

135 Kenilworth Rd
1965 - 1971
Gibbet Hill campus
1971 - 2003
Zeeman Building
2003 - present

A Little History
At the founding of the University of Warwick in the early 1960s. Professor Sir Christopher Zeeman FRS, (then plain 'Christopher') accepted the first Chair in Mathematics. He gathered together an energetic team of talented young mathematicians to help him establish the Institute as a centre of excellence of international standing. That same energy and spirit of adventure lives on today.

Our first undergraduates were admitted in 1965 and since then the Department has gone from strength to strength. Today its 941 undergraduates form one of the largest and best-qualified mathematics cohorts in the UK. They are taught by 61 permanent academic staff, all active research mathematicians of international stature. Additional teaching is provided by some 25 research fellows and contract staff and by the 94 PhD students.

From the very beginning the Department has championed

• academic excellence underpinned by a generous teaching provision
• flexibility and choice in the curriculum
• good career prospects for its graduates

These are strengths we still offer our students in the 21st century and will strive to maintain in the future.

The Mathematics Research Centre (MRC)
The MRC, whose current Director is Professor Miles Reid FRS, plans and organises a comprehensive programme of international conferences and workshops. A special Warwick feature are the year-long research symposia, which attract distinguished mathematicians from all over the world. Recent symposia have included: Stochastic PDEs in 2000/01, Geometric Mechanics and Symmetry in 2001/02, Geometry and Probabilistic Aspects of Dynamical Systems in 2002/03, Non-Commutative Algebra in 2003/04, The Mathematics of Quantum Systems in 2004/05, Turbulence in 2005/06, Low Dimensional Geometry and Topology in 2006/07, Algebraic Geometry in 2007/08, Challenges in Scientific Computing in 2008/09, and Mathematics of Complexity Science and Systems Biology in 2009-10, Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems in 2010-11, Probability Theory in 2011-12 and in 2012-13 will be on Number Theory. In addition to these symposia, the MRC organises a large number of workshops (some 50 in the last decade), which bring together research mathematicians from the United Kingdom and beyond to focus on a common theme. Over and above those attending the symposia and workshops, the Department also welcomes the many mathematical visitors who come here to work with Warwick members of staff.

Mathematical Interdisciplinary Research at Warwick (MIR@W)
MIR@W (pronounced 'mir-raw') was created to stimulate mathematical research into scientific problems spanning University disciplines and to provide postgraduate training across subject boundaries. Directed first by Professor David Rand and now by Professor Robert MacKay FRS, MIR@W involves the collaboration of Maths with 11 departments: Business School, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Education, Engineering, Life Sciences, Medical School, Physics, Psychology and Statistics. There are particularly strong interactions in Cell Biology, Molecular Organisation, Scientific Computing, Fluid Dynamics and Socio-Economic-Dynamics. An initiative in Complex Systems: networks, dynamics and interacting agents, has developed into a Centre for Complexity Science. A series of one-day interdisciplinary meetings called MIR@W Days was started in 1997, with about 10 per year on themes in both traditional and new areas of mathematical application, such as Climate Change, Memes, Nuclear Fusion and Economic Models. A list of past events is available here. The MSc and PhD students in MIR@W are jointly supervised by Mathematics and one of the other participating departments. MIR@W also promotes industrial collaboration.

Professor
Robert MacKay FRS