Mathematics display in Parliament

Dr Julie Vile, a Research Associate in the School of Mathematics has won a bronze prize at a competition in the House of Commons, for the excellence of her mathematics research, walking away with a £1,000 prize.

Julie presented her mathematics research to dozens of politicians and a panel of expert judges, as part of the poster competition SET for Britain, on Monday 17 March.

Her research, developing analytical techniques to forecast demand for ambulance services and optimise their deployment, was judged against 29 other shortlisted researchers' work and came out one of three winners.

Julie said: "Today has offered a great opportunity to convey the benefits of mathematics to a wider audience".

SET for Britain aims to help politicians understand more about the UK's thriving science and engineering base and rewards some of the strongest scientific and engineering research being undertaken in the UK.

Mark Robson, Head of Statistics at the Bank of England, the sponsors of the Bronze Mathematical Sciences award, commented: "The Bank of England has long had a key requirement for good mathematics graduates. So we are delighted to show our support for SET for Britain by sponsoring a mathematics award for the first time this year, to recognise the excellent quality of the entries and indeed the underlying research going on throughout the United Kingdom".

Sir Adrian Smith, Chair, the Council for the Mathematical Sciences (CMS) said: "The CMS is delighted that the mathematical sciences have been involved in this prestigious event for the very first time; it is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the importance of the mathematical sciences to a wider audience.  It is paramount to encourage early-career research scientists, engineers, technologists and mathematicians and the SET for Britain event is a very effective way of doing this. We have been encouraged by the enthusiastic response from early-career researchers in the mathematical sciences and feel sure this will this continue in the future".

The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee run the event in collaboration with the Council for Mathematical Sciences, the Institute of Physics, The Physiological Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Society of Biology and the Society of Chemical Industry, with financial support from BP, the Clay Mathematics Institute, Essar, INEOS, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), Germains Seed Technology, Boeing, the Bank of England and the Institute of Biomedical Science.

Andrew Miller MP, Chairman of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, said: "This annual competition is an important date in the parliamentary calendar because it gives MPs an opportunity to speak to a wide range of the country's best young researchers. 

"These early career engineers, mathematicians and scientists are the architects of our future and SET for Britain is the best opportunity for politicians to meet them and understand their work".