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Martine’s first draft funding application letter:

After previous successes with the event “Beyond Part III,” in 2009 and “Young Researchers in Mathematics,” in 2010, PhD students from the Department of Mathematics and the Complexity Science doctoral training centre at the University of Warwick have decided to run a similar conference next year, open to PhD students and post-docs from around the world.

The conference will continue under the name “Young Researchers in Mathematics,” and will take place between the 14th and the 16th of April 2011 at the Centre for Mathematics and Statistics on the University of Warwick campus.

“Young Researchers in Mathematics” aspires to be a network of PhD students and young post-docs working in all areas related to mathematics at institutions throughout the UK and beyond. One of its abiding goals is to establish and maintain links between these young researchers. Its original aim, in 2009, was to bringing together former Cambridge students who have moved on to do research in mathematics at other universities. However, it has quickly outgrown this, under the influence of the PhD community and an event for young mathematicians who want to exchange ideas, discuss their results and learn about the research of their peers has emerged.

The conference both years was very popular not only among former Cambridge students, but also many PhD students in the UK, Europe and elsewhere in the world, with 180-190 students attending each year. In 2010, 80% of the participants were from universities other than Cambridge, and 27% from non-UK universities. During and after the conferences, feedback was very positive and it was agreed that more events like this should be held in the future.

The University of Warwick has the capacity to accommodate an event of this scale; it hosted the European Conference on Complex systems in 2009, with just under 500* delegates. We have formed a new committee of volunteers to organise a “Young Researchers in Mathematics 2011” Several of the new committee of volunteers have experienced the conference as participants, and so have firsthand experience of its importance in facilitating the research process through exposure of and to ideas, and the opportunity for discussion and refinement of understanding. The new organisers have been able to learn from the experience which has been gained by Cambridge PhD students through organising the last two years’ events, and continue to collaborate on an organisational level. The conference will have a similar format to this year’s event, open to around 200 young researchers from universities across the world. We will build on Warwick’s innovative approach to interdisciplinary working and run between 10 and 15 sessions in both pure and applied mathematics, where students will be given the opportunity to present their research in front of their peers, discuss their results and open directions for future research. Each session will also include a keynote lecture from a senior mathematician in the field and there will be two plenary talks.

Participants will be encouraged to move between sessions to broaden their horizon beyond their own area and to investigate links with other subjects of mathematical research, with practical arrangements put in place to facilitate this. This academic programme will be accompanied by social events to allow participants to exchange their ideas and expand their networks in an informal setting.

We would like to see “Young Researchers in Mathematics” move around the UK from year to year - in the spirit of exchange and collaboration, and feel strongly that its first year away from Cambridge is the crucial first step to realising this ambition.
“Young Researchers in Mathematics” is supported by the department of Mathematics and the Complexity Science dtc and is being organised by and for students.
We are now in the process of making applications to the various funding bodies and societies who supported the previous events. We would very much appreciate if Winton Capital supported us financially so that we can keep registration fees low and make our event as accessible as possible to research students by subsidising accommodation expenses. We have attached our budget details with estimated expenses.
For further details please visit our website http://www.youngresearchersinmaths.org or contact
Mariano Zeron (mz276@cam.ac.uk)

*ECCS09 had 486 delegates says Monica

Specifics for certain funders:

Roberts: The opportunity for PhD students to organise a conference themselves, to negotiate the help they need from academics in their home institutions and further afield, to make funding bids, deal with the many emergent challenges along the way is a rare and valuable one, and one which it is hoped can be given to successive generations of PhD students through “Young Researchers in Mathematics”. It is also seen as a resource production for the research community: as these early career researches gain skill and experience, they are enabled to become the conference initiators of the future, without which the conferences we all rely on would cease to be.

EPSRC: The organisers are conscious that the wide range of facilities available in large postgraduate communities is not enjoyed by all. Students from institutions with small postgraduate mathematics communities lack the regular opportunities for collaborative discussion, seminars and meeting with world-class academics which are available through larger departments. To help address this inequality, we would like to offer priority access to on-campus accommodation and discretionary travel bursaries to UK students working such circumstances. This would enable more of them to benefit from the interchange at the conference.

LMS: The LMS has already been of assistance in providing a list of female potential speakers from which we can begin to address the inequality in proportion of female keynote speakers compared to the proportion of female participants. We request the ongoing financial support for the conference which, we believe, has a key role to play in the development of all early career Mathematicians, and particularly that of underrepresented minorities.

IMA: The IMA has been generous enough to support this conference at Cambridge on two previous occasions. As we begin the process of establish the conference away from Cambridge, we would very much appreciate the financial support of the IMA. We believe that learned societies have a great deal to gain from sponsoring events like this, as here is an ideal opportunity to showcase the advantages of membership to those at the beginning of their careers. With two thriving local IMA branches, East and West Midlands, in the locality, and a number of high profile members at Warwick, we suggest that the potential for recruitment of new IMA members at YRM2011 is very good.