The EDI Champions group at the Department of Mathematical Sciences organised a poster competition on topics related to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and Mathematical Sciences. The aim of this poster competition was to be an opportunity for students to showcase the topics in EDI that they feel passionate about and want to champion.
The winner of this first Maths EDI Poster Competition was Julia Münch, who is a first-year PhD student, with a poster titled Women in Mathematics. Julia’s poster features the silhouette of Euphemia Lofton Heynes, the first African American woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics. And the background consists of theorems proved by female mathematicians from several areas, including the recent Fields medal winner Maryna Viazovska, or emeritus professor Mary Rees from our Department.
The winning poster was revealed as part of the celebration of International Women in Mathematics Day, which took place on Friday, 12 May. The event was opened by Prof. Rachel Bearon (Head of Department) and included the talk Statistics: the grammar of science by Dr Kamila Żychaluk (School Athena Swan Lead) in which she discussed her career and some of the additional challenges that women still face.
Julia’s poster was unveiled by Prof. Gita Sedghi (School EDI Lead), who gave her the first prize award. Julia then spoke about the poster, focusing on one of the results featured there. She spoke about the life and work of Alicia Boole Stott, who discovered that there are exactly six regular polytopes in four dimensions. The poster is now displayed in the Resources Room, on the ground floor of the Mathematical Sciences Building, opposite Maths Student Support Office.
To conclude the celebration of the International Women in Maths Day, we had a networking lunch in the Resources Room, where staff and students could talk in a relaxed atmosphere.