Previous Events

The School of Mathematical Sciences runs a variety of different events throughout the year, ranging from one day masterclasses and taster courses to week long schools and conferences.

National Science and Engineering Week

In March 2010 we hosted groups of GCSE and A-level students for a variety of different events. Professor Franco Vivaldi spoke about Chaos and members of the Astronomy Unit ran a stand in the exhibition on the Cassini mission to Saturn. You can read more about the activities here.

Masterclasses

Waltham Forest Masterclasses

These run annually for Y10 students from schools in the borough of Waltham Forest. Held on three consecutive Saturdays in March, students spend half a day working on mathematics. Previous sessions run by our academics have included:

  • Cryptography
  • Topology
  • Magic Squares

The aim of these sessions is to encourage more students to think about studying at university and the vast majority that attend say that they are more likely to study mathematics at university.

Havering Gifted and Talented Masterclass

Since 2008 we have hosted a group of Y10 Gifted and Talented students from the borough of Havering for a one day masterclass. This has given them the opportunity to find out what it's like to go to university and they spoke to some of the current undergraduate students to find out about their experiences. This event is supported by the London Excellence Hub and in 2010 we'll be opening this to other boroughs.

Taster Courses

Each year we take part in the University of London Taster Programme. They are one day sessions which take place in June/July and are aimed at Y12 students thinking about what to study at university. Previous sessions include:

  • Inevitable Patterns in Mathematics - this sessions explores our assumptions that patterns in mathematical or physical structures reflect some underlying order in the structure. However, armed with some simple mathematical ideas, it can be shown that some patterns occur inevitably, even in the most apparently disordered places. This ideas form the branch of mathematics known as Ramsey Theory.
  • A Day in the Life of a Mathematics undergrad - this was made up of lectures and workshops based on some of our first year topics. These included Statistics and Mathematical Computation. There was the chance to meet some of our current undergraduates and take a campus tour. At the end we held a Q&A session where we answered questions about entry requirements, personal statements and degree programme content.

Sixth Form Seminar

Patterns and Probability


Order and randomness seem to have little in common. We would be surprised if a coin came up heads 8 times in a row, if an arbitrary group of people contained 10 mutual friends, or if we could predict reliably whether some random road closures would cut off two towns. However, sometimes our surprise says less about reality than about our intuition for patterns and for probability.

Armed with some simple mathematical ideas we looked at what order we can expect random events to produce, We see that even in the most disordered of places some patterns are highly likely or even inevitable.

Starting from some simple ideas in probability this seminar touched on two active and accessible areas of modern mathematics: Ramsay Theory and Percolation. Many of the problems considered lead to some beautiful mathematics, and some are remarkably still unsolved.

Speakers:

Professor Peter Cameron - What is randomness?

Dr Robert Johnson - Inevitable Patterns

Dr Mark Walters - Percolation

Five Day Schools

London North Y12 STEM Spring School

25 students from schools across North London attended classes at Queen Mary for a week on the theme of Energy and the Environment. Sessions were delivered by academics from the Department of Physics, the School of Engineering and Materials Science and the School of Mathematical Sciences. In pairs they had to produce a poster based on one of the topics that we introduced to them during the week, these included solar power, the use of networks in energy distribution and the aerodynamics of cars. They then presented their work to academics, postgraduates and undergraduates. This was run with the support of AimHigher.

London East Y10 STEM Summer School

The aim of this summer school was to encourage students to continue their science and mathematics studies at A-level and consider it at degree level. They attended a variety of sessions ranging from Maths, Astrophysics, Engineering and Materials. The week ended with an undergraduate panel session where the Y10 students got to ask our undergraduates about their life at university.

Media Space Summer School

This award winning programme is supported by HEFCE's AimHigher Summer School programme and has run for three years. It is aimed at Y10 students and uses Astronomy to encourage their interest in science, maths, engineering and english. This year the students produced two magazines. To find out more visit the Media Space section on our website.

 

Conferences

Women into STEM Careers

Y10 girls from schools all over London and from the surrounding areas attended this one day event at Queen Mary. They attended talks from alumni on careers in physics, electronic engineering and biological and chemical sciences, engineering and materials, mathematics and computer science. Attendees found it a valuable experience, commenting that "I found it all very informative and it has helped me to begin thinking about university choices and courses and also inspired me to get a PhD."

Women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Careers Conference for Y12

This conference was sponsored by Manmade.

This conference was aimed at female Y12 students who are taking science or maths subjects. Its purpose was to encourage more young women into STEM degrees and careers. All of our speakers on the day were female and represent the different STEM disciplines. The timetable is laid out below.

 

  • 9.30 am - 10.00 am: Registration
  • 10.00 am - 11.00 am: Plenary - Delilah Al Khudhairy BSc (Eng) PhD, Head - Global Security and Crisis Management for the European Commission
  • 11.00 am - 12.00: Workshop Session 1
  • 12.00 - 1.00 pm: Lunch
  • 1.00 pm - 2.00 pm: Workshop Session 2
  • 2.00 - 2.45 pm: Q&A Panel Session with QMUL Alumni and Undergraduate Students

Workshop sessions were provided for by Dr Rosemary Harris from Queen Mary and Dr Karmen Poljansek of the European Joint Research Center, Ispra.

 

Further Maths Support Network

We hold a number of events for the Further Maths Support Network ranging from revision days to enrichment sessions. To find out more about the work they do visit their website.

 

The Royal Institution

For a number of years now we have hosted Saturday masterclasses throughout the school year. These are co-ordinated by Joan Glastonbury for the Ri. For more information on their activities please take a look at their website.