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Wei Zhu, a former graduate of the University of Liverpool, has achieved remarkable success in their academic career. After completing a Masters and PhD at Liverpool, Wei served as a lecturer before joining the Department of Economics, Econometrics, and Finance at the University of Groningen as an Assistant Professor. Wei's dedication to teaching yielded impressive results, with the first-year mathematics course he led ranking second overall and first among undergraduate courses at Groningen. His passion for mathematics, nurtured during his time at Liverpool, has contributed to the appeal of mathematics courses for economics students.
Wei reflects on his academic journey below.
“I pursued both my Masters and PhD degrees at the University of Liverpool, and after graduating in 2018, I served as a lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences for about three years. In 2021, I left Liverpool after nine years and joined the Department of Economics, Econometrics, and Finance at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands as an Assistant Professor.
During my first year and a half at Groningen, I mainly focused on teaching and achieved some accomplishments in this area. The first-year mathematics course I was responsible for, which mainly covered calculus and analysis, ranked second in the entire faculty and first among undergraduate courses. This achievement marked several historical firsts, such as the first time a first-year undergraduate course entered the top five in overall rankings and the first time a mathematics course made it into the top five within the Faculty of Economics and Business.
Of course, my graduate studies and life at IFAM played an integral role in my achievements. I am incredibly grateful for everything that period brought me, especially my passion for mathematics. I believe that the reason economics students find mathematics courses so appealing is largely due to this enthusiasm.
Last summer, I brought a group of undergraduate and PhD students from the University of Groningen to Liverpool for our Math Summer Internship program. I am confident that our two departments and institutions can engage in deeper cooperation and exchange in the future, making the most of our respective valuable resources and benefiting our undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as our academics.”