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Selex ES is a company that has a strong history of providing electronic systems for airborne defence applications. In the past, this was very much the realm of designing and building military aircraft, the sensor systems on them for keeping them in the air and the sensors on the ground to monitor and control where they are going.

Over the past 30 years the world has changed. The applied mathematics of flight dynamics and the inverse problem of tracking that dynamics are now largely solved problems. Military budgets have also grown relatively smaller. To survive in this new world defence companies have to focus on algorithms for best-exploiting existing hardware and best-extracting ever more subtle information from the data intercepted by it. Defence Systems might still involve ‘Rockets’ but the value and interest lie primarily in the algorithms within and around them.

This talk will try to provide some insight into opportunities for mathematics and mathematicians in the defence industry; as exemplified by a small number of the speaker’s recent research projects.

Neil Cade is a Lead Systems Specialist working at the Selex ES Luton site; undertaking applied research on the autonomous exploitation of distributed networks of sensors.

Neil graduated in Physics from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand before gaining a PhD in Theoretical Physics from what is now QMUL in London. He joined a predecessor of Selex ES in 1984 and has a wide research experience in such diverse realms as II-VI semiconductor physics, Bio-chemical sensors and UAV control systems; all of them underpinned by mathematics.

The considerable challenges and rewards of a career that involves software engineering extend far beyond the - sometimes assumed - bounds of sole code development. This talk offers an insight into this profession from the point of view of an applied mathematician with several years of experience working within a host of industry sectors for a technology and consulting company that is currently undergoing exciting growth both home and abroad.

The energy sector provides a uniquely dynamic and challenging opportunity for graduates qualified in Mathematics and related disciplines. Come to this event and learn all about how you can put your skills to use in a professional context; managing millions of pounds worth of risk and value using cutting-edge mathematical techniques. At the very heart of one of the major international energy players, quantitative analysts work in collaboration with colleagues across the business. In this way they act as key enablers of sales and hedge transactions and valuations, risk management, cost forecasting & business planning, pricing, risk controlling, setting trading limits, and strategy. Learn about the energy wholesale and retail markets' special features and risks and how quantitative analysts tackle these. Market risk, derivative risk, credit risk and operational risk are discussed; as well as the many valuable applications of this quantitative understanding. Methods and modelling are covered; finishing with a case study in weather derivatives modelling.