Impact Activation Workshop for Mathematical Scientists (A Mathematics for Humanity Programme)

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Impact Activation Workshop for Mathematical Scientists (A Mathematics for Humanity Programme)

 26 - 27 Feb 2025
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ICMS, Bayes Centre, Edinburgh

 Enquiries

You can apply to attend this workshop before 16 December 2024.
  • David Stern, IDEMS International
  • Kate Fleming, IDEMS International

About:

ICMS’s Mathematics for Humanity programme supports mathematical scientists working to make the world a better place, and it’s increasingly understood that mathematicians have an essential role to play in addressing the world’s most pressing social, economic, and environmental problems.

But for many early-career mathematicians, it can be hard to know where and how to find purpose-focussed careers.

They often feel that the career pathways open to them are limited to:

  • Academia. While this path offers clear intellectual stimulation, the focus on advances in the field of mathematics results in a career that is often removed from direct immediate social impact.
  • Commercial business. This path promises personal gain and economic impact, but positive social impact is often an afterthought – and can be altogether lost in a singleminded focus on profit.
At IDEMS our team of mathematical scientists work around the world on complex challenges in public health, climate, agroecology and education. They’re proving there’s plenty of opportunity in social impact work for people with the right skills, and IDEMS’ Impact Activation Postdoctoral fellowships are starting to create a third career pathway for early-career mathematical scientists. This under-travelled path offers a lifelong career trajectory built on challenging and rewarding work that visibly and measurably benefits society.

In this workshop, IDEMS shares the Impact Activation approach with a wider audience. Our team introduces early-career mathematical scientists to skills and mindset that can activate pathways towards rewarding careers in social impact. 

 
The workshop is led by:
  • IDEMS Founding Director David Stern, a PhD mathematician who worked in academia and commercial businesses, but found his true purpose in working on the incredibly complex challenges that come with trying to address social problems across variable low-resource contexts and underserved communities. 
  • IDEMS early-career mathematical scientist team members who are now working in transdisciplinary collaborations with global experts and local communities to build maths-based systems and software to address a range of social problems. Work includes developing the mathematical modelling-based software to predict the spread of invasive species and their impact on global and regional food systems, developing the complex digital infrastructure to deploy a global parenting intervention designed to reduce child abuse, and work with local farmer cooperatives in West Africa to develop research methods and supporting technology infrastructure. 
  • IDEMS Director Kate Fleming, who brings both commercial experience working with traditional tech companies and the perspective of being a non-mathematical scientist founder of a digital platform for social impact, and the challenges and rewards of developing innovation that requires complex mathematical skills and collaboration.  

In addition to sharing our individual stories and experiences, the IDEMS team will help workshop participants understand how existing skills can be tapped into and refocused towards aspects of their individual interests and passions in contributing toward the societal challenges of our time. 

About IDEMS:

Social enterprise technology company IDEMS collaborates with innovative expert researchers and local communities around the world to develop pioneering digital interventions and infrastructure designed to work in – and scale across – low-resource contexts for responsible, sustainable global impact.

IDEMS was founded by mathematical scientists, and the team comprises PhD mathematical scientists, social scientists, and applied technologists working in long-term, transdisciplinary research-and-development collaborations with public health, climate, agroecology, and education experts leading impact innovation in their fields.

Participation:

The public application is now open; please click the button "Apply to attend" at the top of this webpage to submit your application before Friday 16 December 2024. Please note, successful applicants will generally be expected to pay 100.00GBP registration fee as well as for their travel and accommodation to attend the workshop. Some funding is available to support individual cases so please apply even if you would need full support to attend. All applications will then be reviewed by the scientific organisers and the aim is to advise applicants of their decisions before 20 December.

Please visit here for more information about the workshop.