BAMC 2004 (iii)

The days are starting to go quicker, with today being the last full day of the conference. The structure of the schedule was such that talks were timetabled until lunchtime and the afternoon left as free time, before the main social event of the grandly titled "banquet", which was held in the "medieval splendour" of Saint Andrews Hall in Norwich city centre (images).

The day's mathematical content comprised of six talks and a plenary lecture. Certainly, having listened to a lot of mathematics over the last couple of days, I am starting to get a grasp on some of the subject matter and have progressed to the point where I am happy to approach the speaker and ask a question concerning their work. In terms of my academic development, this is a great step since it reveals not only a comprehension above that which I have previously obtained but also an ability to consider everything presented to me in a critical fashion i.e. not taking things as given. This is an important skill for a research student and I am especially pleased to see such developments in my approach to maths. There is also a motivation building that will, I am sure, carry me through successfully over the coming month: being surrounded not only by eminent mathematicians but postdoctoral and research students who are obviously strong in their field (and beyond) has an encouraging effect that can only result in my wanting to obtain knowledge such as theirs in my own field and beyond. In that sense, I have a much more definite sense of what it is that should be achieved over the next couple of years.

The free afternoon gave me an opportunity to wander around campus with my camera. UEA was granted it's Royal Charter in 1963 and is very similar to the University of Surrey (UniS) in many ways. The campus is a funny mix of old, geometrically awkward concrete buildings whose sole purpose is very obviously functional alongside modern, sweeping white constructions sheathed in glass and served by elegant bridges, whose overall purpose is obscured by an evident sense of keeping up appearances. A world-class environmental institute or a first-year housing block? Don't expect the walls to give you any clues.

(Building sites are the lifeblood of 1960s universities at the moment as they undergo the transition from ex-polytechnics with a very polytechnic architectural style to modern institutions that hover on the edge of the premier league of universities. In order to establish an identity, such universities are investing in themselves through flagship buildings alongside renovation projects of crumbling residences as an attempt to develop their portfolios, all in order to aid their case with the government. UniS has seen continuous building work for the last eight years and so to UEA, by the looks of it).

As does UniS, the UEA campus has a lake and an art gallery, although on both accounts UEA claims an easy victory. I spoke about the Sainsbury's Centre for the Visual Arts the day before yesterday, so I shan't go on about it any more, apart from to say that pictures of both it, the lake and the rest of the walk around campus — as well as the conference as a whole - are on the conference images page.