On Monday 5 March 2018 the Department of Mathematics hosted a lecture by Professor Marta Mazzocco, University of Birmingham, as part of their Women in Maths event. The Women in Maths initiative aims to provide all students and staff with access to role models, while increasing visibility of women academics, particularly amongst students.

Professor Mazzocco took her PhD in Mathematical Physics at the International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA, Trieste) before taking a post doc position at MSRI, Berkeley. She was an EPSRC funded RA at Oxford before being appointed temporary University Lecturer in DPMMS, Cambridge University. She has held positions as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at the University of Manchester and as a Reader at Loughborough University. She is now Professor of Mathematics at the University of Birmingham.

Professor Marta Mazzocco’s talk ‘A journey through integrability in search of the unexpected’ covered her academic career both from a scientific point of view, by illustrating some of her mathematical results, as well as from a personal point of view by explaining how she came to study for a PhD and then develop into an academic.

In addition to the talk there was an opportunity to ask questions and a drinks reception with time to explore an exhibition of posters. This exhibition offered a glimpse into the world of mathematics through photographs by Noel Tovia Matoff and excerpts of interviews conducted by mathematicians Sylvie Paycha and Sara Azzali with women mathematicians throughout Europe.

Cristin Buescu, lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, said: ‘The personal experience shared by Professor Mazzocco was inspirational; although it gave a unique perspective, it reached universal values. It brought mathematics alive, qualifying the speaker as an exceptional role model for the empowerment of students and staff alike.’