BAMC 2004 (i)

British Applied Mathematics Colloquium (BAMC) 2004
University of East Anglia, Norwich

Note: I have been at my first mathematical conference for the last four days; what follows is a brief diary of those four days. I have edited the date of entry for each day such that it appears as though I was keeping the diary up to date each day whilst away. Images are on this page.

The British Applied Mathematics Colloquium (BAMC) is an annual gathering of the UK's applied mathematicians, designed to provide a platform at which researchers can present their latest work and discuss various issues affecting the current mathematical landscape. Although my work is more suited to pure maths, my supervisor — whose work bridges both pure and applied areas in symmetry and fluid dynamics respectively — packed me off to the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich to experience a conference, partly for the very good reason that he expects me to give a talk at the BAMC next year.

The conference takes the form of six plenary lectures and several timetabled sessions during which some 167 talks will be given. Within an hour or so of arriving and sifting through the goodie-bag (free pint glass, discounted book price list and dinner vouchers) I was sitting in the first of the timetabled sessions, taking in five 35 minute presentations. The majority of the talk titles made little or no sense on first glimpse and my supervisor had only suggested a small handful of talks to attend; fortunately, the standard practice at academic conferences allows for all delegates to be given a handbook of abstracts (also doubling up as a handy reference to everything from the general timetable to where to buy a paper to a list of all the participants and their e-mail addresses), thus making the task a little easier.

After the shorter talks, the first plenary lecture was given, meaning that all 250-odd delegates sat in a large lecture theatre for a talk by a well-known mathematician. Clearly, the day had been a long one for some as snoring was quite audible on at least two occasions during the hour slot, but for me it provided an opportunity to see exactly who was here.

As you would expect, participants are comprised of lecturers/researchers, postdoctoral students and postgraduate students. Many PhD students are here with their supervisors and quite a range of institutions are represented. Alongside British mathematicians are a reasonable number of foreign researchers, many of whom I assume to be collaborators, though obviously heavily involved in applied mathematics.

Dinner came and went (fish and chips, no pudding) and it soon became time for the obligatory welcome reception, complete with speech from the High Sheriff of Nottingham Norwich/Pro-Vice Chancellor of UEA. The meet was held in the Sainsbury's Centre for the Visual Arts, an impressive building containing a varied and fascinating collection of art. Picasso, Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti all have several bits and pieces in the collection and helped to provide a visually sumptuous background for the evening (images are here).