Sydney Mathematical Research Institute

'Zeros'
2024-08-13 17:30 - 19:30 (Australia/Sydney)
National Science Week 2024 Public Lecture by Professor Andrej Bauer

Have you ever wondered what makes mathematicians excited about seemingly dreary tasks, such as solving equations?

In the old days, mathematicians would compete in equation solving, with their reputation, money, and jobs at stake. More than once, they invented new kinds of numbers just so they could solve more equations. This intense passion and dedication suggests an unseen, hidden beauty that compels mathematicians to invest their lives in the pursuit of solutions.

Using modern computers, we will uncover and visualize this beauty, revealing the rich and intricate structure of equation solving for everyone to see. Join us and partake in the excitement of mathematical discovery.

About the speaker

Andrej Bauer is a professor of computational mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 1994, he received his Sc.B. in Mathematics from Ljubljana, and in 2000, his PhD in Pure and Applied Logic from Carnegie Mellon University. In 2012, he was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he contributed to the development of homotopy type theory. In 2022, he received the American Mathematical Society Levi L. Conant Prize for an outstanding expository paper “Five Stages of Accepting Constructive Mathematics” published in the Bulletin of the AMS.

Bauer’s work spans foundations of mathematics, constructive and computable mathematics, type theory, homotopy type theory, and mathematical principles of programming languages. He is a co-author of the book “Homotopy Type Theory: Univalent Foundations of Mathematics” and the initiator of the HoTT library, an extensive formalization of homotopy type theory in the Coq proof assistant. He is also known for his seminal work on programming with algebraic effects and handlers.

Bauer’s interests outside mathematics include computer-generated art and aikido, in which he holds a master’s degree.

Date:

Cost

SWHB Lecture Theatre 321

Level 3 Susan Wakil Health Building (D18)

University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus

National Science Week High School Workshop: Infinity mathematics
2024-08-14 16:30
Infinity mathematics workshop, Wednesday 14 August, 16:30–18:00
SMRI will host a National Science Week after-school workshop for high school students at the University of Sydney on Wednesday 14 August 2024. The workshop is aimed at students from years 8-11 with a keen interest in mathematics. In this workshop, we will have a deeper look into counting to infinity and try to figure out if all infinities are equal or one thing can be more infinite than another one. We will explore the mathematics of infinity through discussion and solving problems.
This event will be presented by University of Sydney mathematician, Milena Radnovic.
About the presenter: Milena Radnovic is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University in Sydney. She was born, raised and educated in Belgrade, Serbia, where she worked for many years with talented students of the Mathematical High School and did research at the Mathematical Institute SANU. Before coming to Sydney, Milena also worked as a mathematician in the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Milena’s research work mainly focuses on geometry and dynamics. She is an enthusiastic teacher for students of all ages and levels of education.

Click here to register via Humanitix

My Mathematical Journey: From Play To Sea!
2025-01-29 17:30 - 19:30
A SMRI & AMSI Summer School Public Lecture by Jordan Pitt

Every time I mention that I’m a mathematician to someone new, the most popular response is ‘Oh I was TERRIBLE at maths!‘ and a general vibe that I’m an extreme weirdo for not sharing in this feeling. Honestly, as mathematicians, we are a bit different but I am going to try and explain why we’re not that weird in this talk. To do this I will provide some stories of my own mathematical journey and why I ended up loving it.

In this AMSI Summer School public lecture, University of Sydney mathematician Jordan Pitt will talk about his journey in mathematics. This will be a free event targeted to the general public, including interested school students. More details and registration.

Jordan Pitt, Associate Dean Indigenous Strategy & Services and School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Sydney

Dr Jordan Pitt is a descendant of the Birri Gubba people and an applied mathematician. Like most, his passion for mathematics was sparked by a fantastic high school mathematics teacher. Since that fire ignited, he has had an academic career completing his undergraduate and PhD at the Australian National University working on numerical methods for tsunami modelling. He now studies the interaction of ocean waves and sea ice to improve climate models at the University of Sydney, continuing work begun as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Adelaide. In addition to his academic time, he has also worked at Geoscience Australia and the Australian Taxation Office on projects from modelling tsunamis to phone call times.

Key event details

Date & time:

Wednesday 29 January 2025

Public lecture: 5:30 – 6:30 pm

Canapés & drinks: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Cost:

This is a free event

Location:

SWHB Lecture Theatre 321

Level 3 Susan Wakil Health Building (D18)

University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus

Register for this event

Artistic Mathematics: Truth and Beauty
2025-03-14 17:30 - 19:30
International Day of Mathematics Public Lecture by Henry Segerman

Dr Segerman will talk about his work in mathematical visualization: making accurate, effective, and beautiful pictures, models, and experiences of mathematical concepts. He will discuss what it is that makes a visualization compelling, and show many examples in the medium of 3D printing, as well as some work in virtual reality and spherical video. Dr Segerman will also discuss his experiences in teaching a project-based class on 3D printing for mathematics students.

The theme of International Day of Mathematics 2025 is Mathematics Art, and Creativity. In honour of the theme, University of Oklahoma mathematician and artist Henry Segerman will give a talk about his incredible mathematical visualizations. This will be a free event targeted to the general public, including interested school students. More details and registration.

Henry Segerman, Oklahoma State University

Dr Henry Segerman’s research interests are in three-dimensional geometry and topology, and in mathematical art and visualization. In visualization he works in 3D printing, spherical video, virtual, and augmented reality. He is the author of the book “Visualizing Mathematics with 3D Printing”.

Key event details

Date & time:

Friday 14 March 2025

Public lecture: 5:30 – 6:30 pm

Canapés & drinks: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Cost:

This is a free event

Location:

Lecture Theatre 321, Susan Wakil Health Building, University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus

Register for this event

CCWM X SMRI: Maths at the Museum
2025-03-15 12:00 - 2025-03-16 16:00
International Day of Mathematics 2025: Mathematics, Art and Creativity

Saturday March 15 from 12 – 4pmSunday March 16 from 12 – 4 pm

The official theme of the International Day of Mathematics in 2025 is “Mathematics, Art, and Creativity”. The Sydney Mathematics Research Institute and the Chau Chak Wing Museum will collaborate to mark the occasion with a special fun-filled family weekend. We will explore creativity in mathematics with talks, panels, children’s activities and performances across the weekend in the Chau Chak Wing Museum.An integrated program of activities will run across the weekend, with participating artists and activities confirmed below.

The Sound of Symmetry

ARIA-Nominated Ensemble Offspring are an innovative 8-part band known for performing at MONA FOMA, Sydney Festival and Melbourne Festival over their 23-year history. This will be a combined lecture-recital, with commentary from mathematician Artem Pulemotov and musicologist Denis Collins, who work at the interface of mathematics and music.

As this event will be popular, there is a small charge ($5) to reserve your spot

The performance will run both afternoons 12.30 – 2 pm (doors open 12.15 pm). Suitable for anyone 15 years and older.

Register for the Sound of Symmetry ($5)

Drawing on Complexity with Briony Barr

Over the weekend, visitors will contribute to a collaborative artwork by Brisbane-based artist Briony Barr using paper and washi tape. This body of work, ‘Drawing on Complexity’ uses rule-based drawing and social dynamics to model complex adaptive systems, and has been designed in collaboration with physicist Andrew Melatos.

Drawing on Complexity: Experiment 9 by Briony Barr. Photo: Greg Harm

Expert floor talks

Saturday 15th March

12:30 Henry Segerman & Rizal Muslimin, Shape-finding and Shape-solving in Architecture and Maths.

13:15 Sabetta Matsumoto, Purls of wisdom: geometry & topology in weavables, wearables and wallpaper

14:15 Briony Barr, Explainer: Drawing on Complexity

15:00 Katherine Seaton, Hitomezashi MathematicsHitomezashi is a form of stitching that originated in Edo period Japan. It is also now recognised as a form of mathematical fibre art or generative drawing. How can we stitch mathematics? The answer is using patterns, randomness or codes. But then we look at our stitching, and we find even more mathematical questions to consider.

Sunday 16th March

12:30 Katherine Seaton, Hitomezashi MathematicsHitomezashi is a form of stitching that originated in Edo period Japan. It is also now recognised as a form of mathematical fibre art or generative drawing. How can we stitch mathematics? The answer is using patterns, randomness or codes. But then we look at our stitching, and we find even more mathematical questions to consider.

13:15 Sabetta Matsumoto, Purls of wisdom: geometry & topology in weavables, wearables and wallpaper

14:15 Jared Field and Sabetta Matsumoto, A conversation about weaving, maths, and fibre engineering (Moderated by Catherine Meister)

15:00 Briony Barr, Explainer: Drawing on Complexity

Maths craft: Family creative workstations

Get creative with a variety of maths craft activities – from making ‘origami fidget spinners’ to beautiful line art and much more, these activities use mathematical concepts to make interesting and beautiful works, many of which you can take home!

Make your own flexagon

Flexagons are like the fidget spinners of the origami world; constructed of folded paper, they reveal hidden faces when the paper is flexed.

Line art

Follow simple patterns to create colourful artwork using yarn or pen. This activity explores how you can use straight lines to form curves resulting in beautiful intricate designs.

3D Fractals

Fractals are mathematical objects built from repeated copies of themselves. Visitors will construct units that will then be combined to build two large-scale objects: a Menger Sponge and a 3D Sierpinski triangle.

Weird tiling

We see tiling everywhere – there’s almost certainly some in your bathroom. All the pieces fit neatly together to cover the surface. In this tiling activity we’ll use a special shape to create some very weird tiling – it covers a surface, but without a repeating pattern.

Sashiko

Sashiko hand-stitching creates different types of lines that form geometric patterns. Visitors will be able to draw their own sashiko patterns using grid paper.

Key event details

Date & time:

Saturday 15 March & Sunday 16 March 2025

12 pm – 4 pm

Cost:

Most events are free, reservations for the Sound of Symmetry are $5

Location:

The Chau Chak Wing Museum

University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus

Register for ‘Sound of Symmetry’

'Knots, graphs, and algebra: a story of surprises' National Science Week Public Lecture by Zsuzsanna Dancso
2025-08-15 17:30 - 19:30
Knots are everywhere: in the strings of our DNA, in the structure of super-strong materials, and in mathematics, where knots lurk behind all three-dimensional shapes. Graphs model social networks, transit maps, neural nets, and are one of the most basic objects in modern combinatorics. But what does the mathematics of knots have to do with the mathematics of networks? And how can we use algebra — the science of numbers, operations, and structure — to solve mysteries about both? More details and registration.

This public lecture is hosted by the Sydney Mathematical Research Institute as part of our program for National Science Week 2025. The talk will be tailored to a general audience and suitable for individuals from Year 10 onward. This is a free event, however registration is essential.

Zsuzsanna Dancso, The University of Sydney

Zsuzsanna Dancso is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Sydney. In her research she uses algebra and discrete mathematics to study knots and shapes in three and four dimensions. Zsuzsanna’s research is influenced by diverse international experiences and the collaborations she built along the way: born and raised in Hungary, she completed her PhD at the University of Toronto in Canada, and worked at multiple top research institutes and universities in North America and Australia, before joining the University of Sydney in 2017.

Zsuzsanna values the fresh perspectives that students and young mathematicians bring to the field: indeed, the project which inspired this lecture included two University of Sydney students, in addition to an international collaborator. Outside of mathematics, Zsuzsanna enjoys dance, musical theatre, and feeding people.

Key event details

Date & time:

Friday 15 August 2025

Public lecture: 5:30 – 6:30 pm

Canapés & drinks: 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Cost:

This is a free event

Location:

Lecture Theatre 321, Susan Wakil Health Building, University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus

Register for this event

Science at the Museum
2025-08-17 12:00 - 16:00
National Science Week 2025: Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language

Saturday August 16 from 12 – 4pmSunday August 17 from 12 – 4 pm

To mark National Science Week, the Sydney Mathematical Research Institute (SMRI) and the Chau Chak Wing Museum (CCWM) are collaborating again on a stimulating weekend for the whole family in the museum at the University of Sydney!

This year’s theme of National Science Week is ‘Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language’. Over the weekend, we will be delving into the hidden languages of nature – how do mathematics and sciences describe the world around us and allow us to push the boundaries of knowledge?

Joined by the Sydney Institute for Astronomy, we will be celebrating with a variety of activities and floor talks, culminating in an interdisciplinary panel exploring the theme. To explore how the rules of nature govern our world, join us to participate in Briony Barr’s Klein Bottle Experiment. This is a large-scale, collaborative artwork which uses rule-based play to visualise how participants interact with one another and our environment, using the hidden languages of the Universe!

Expert floor talks

Saturday 16th August

12:15 – 12:45 pm 2,000 years of twinkling

Emily Kerrison, Sydney Institute for Astrophysics (SIfA)

Twinkle twinkle little star, we know exactly what you are. Humans have been studying the stars for as long as we have looked up at thenight sky. But why do they twinkle? Do other objects in the night sky twinkle too? Come on a journey from Ancient Greece all the way to modern day Australia, as we follow a story of discovery about why things twinkle at night, and how this twinkling can be used to understand the world around us.

Emily is a PhD student in Astrophysics at the University of Sydney, with a background in both science and Classical literature. She is interested inpiecing together the stories of supermassive black holes from datasets taken all around the world, including right here in Australia. When I’m notlooking at black holes, I like thinking about how the way we do science has changed over the course of decades, centuries, and millennia.

1 – 1:30 pm Introducing Biodesign: applying science outside the lab

Phillip Gough, Design Lab and School of Life and Environmental Sciences

In the future, we will need to develop a circular economy. One that takes waste and turns it into something new, that has some value. For designers it’s important to select the best materials for circularity. Instead of materials that will last for centuries, materials should be able to be broken recycled or returned to the natural cycles. So why not work with Earth’s natural material recycling system, fungi!? This talk introduces biodesign, which applies the understanding of science to design challenges, and uses living organisms as partners to create a better, more sustainable, world.

1:45 – 2:15 pm How animal behavior can shape the environment in unexpected ways

Amelia Meier, Thriving Oceans Research Hub

This talk will explore how animal behavior can have large-scale impacts on the environment and how it can be studied using satellites and big data, with examples from Amelia’s research on species such as elephants and sharks. Understanding such behaviors helps conservationists better protect wildlife and their habitats.

2:30 – 3 pm Building huge radio telescopes (and finding tiny stars)

Kovi Rose, Sydney Institute for Astrophysics (SIfA)

We have entered the age of big data in astrophysics and radio astronomy is no exception. The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) conductswide-field radio surveys of the southern skies. With millions of radio-bright sources in the survey regions we are using new polarisationfiltering and positional cross-matching, as well as more traditionalvariability metrics, to identify interesting astronomical transients. Fromstellar radio emission to late-time supernova re-brightening, I will speakabout some of the different objects we are finding with ASKAP, including the detection of periodic bursts from an ultracool brown dwarf star.

Kovi is an astrophysics PhD candidate and LSST Data Science Fellow at the University of Sydney who uses radio telescopes to study distant starsthat go snap, crackle, and pop. Outside of research, he spends most of his time communicating science through his writing, podcasting, and memes.

3:15 – 3:45 pm Journey to the beginning of the Universe

Ciaran O’Hare, Sydney Institute for Astrophysics (SIfA)

Where did everything we see around us come from? To figure this out we need to go back 13.8 billion years to when the primordial ingredients of our Universe were first forged. I will tell you what we do and do not yet understand about the Big Bang and how the fundamental constituents of nature were created.

Sunday 17th August

12:15 – 12:45 pm Visiting poems as if they were cities (and searching for an optimal route)

Katy Gero, School of Computer Science

The Anxiety of Conception is a poetry book in which each copy of the book represents a unique tour through the poet’s memories. Written in the months leading up to and following the birth of the poet’s child, poems are ordered (and reordered) according to a “traveling salesman” algorithm. This talk will present the concept of the book and the maths used to order the poems.

Katy Ilonka Gero is a writer and human-computer interaction researcher. Her writing and poems have been published in Catapult, The HTML Review, Wired, and more. With Kyle Booten, she is the co-founder of Ensemble Park, a journal that collects literary experiments in human-computer co-writing. Her computer science research spans computational creativity, AI ethics, and the psychological impact of AI writing assistance. She is currently a Lecturer at the University of Sydney in the School of Computer Science.

12:50 – 1:10 pm Explainer: Drawing on Complexity

Briony Barr

Over the weekend, visitors will contribute to a collaborative artwork by Brisbane-based artist Briony Barr using paper and washi tape. This body of work, ‘Drawing on Complexity’ uses rule-based drawing and social dynamics to model complex adaptive systems, and has been designed in collaboration with physicist Andrew Melatos.

1:15 – 1:45 pm Finding radio stars in a haystack of black holes

Laura Driessen, Sydney Institute for Astrophysics (SIfA)

Did you know that black holes can photobomb stars? Hear about how we’ve more than doubled the known number of radio stars using Australia’s ASKAP telescope. Stars might seem easy to find, but it’s a lot trickier with black holes everywhere!

Laura Driessen is a radio astronomer and science communicator. She loves searching for hard-to-find things in the deluge of data they get from amazing radio telescopes, especially the telescopes right here in Australia. She is passionate about sharing the science and the cool astronomy being done right here in Australia. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Sydney and Project Scientist of the Variables and Slow Transients (VAST) survey with ASKAP.

Interdisciplinary Panel: Decoding the Universe – Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language

2 pm – 3:30 pm

This panel brings together experts from across the sciences to explore the theme of National Science Week 2025. Join a lively discussion with Ana Vila Concejo (Geocoastal Research Group), Jean Yang (Sydney Precision Data Science Centre), Tony Wirth (School of Computer Science), and John Voight (Magma, Computational Algebra Group), moderated by Stephan Tillmann (Sydney Mathematical Research Institute).

Activities

Dive into the Magic of the Marine World (Saturday 12 – 4 pm)

Get hands on and explore the incredible marine life found right on Sydney’s doorstep. Our interactive touch tank brings live rockpool creatures, along with coral, shells and other treasures from the reef, right to you. Learn how reefs are built over time and the geology that shapes them, as marine scientists guide you through the hidden world beneath the waves.

Blast Off! Experience the solar system with VR (Saturday & Sunday 12 – 4 pm)

Take a trip out into the solar system and beyond in a virtual reality headset! OzGrav’s amazing VR system takes you to a virtual universe full of planets, stars, black holes and of course, gravitational waves! Visitors are guided by experienced scientists to the planets, stars, and far reaching galaxies to the most extreme objects in the universe.

Maths Craft Activities (Saturday & Sunday 12 – 4 pm)

Get creative with a variety of maths craft activities – from making ‘origami fidget spinners’ to beautiful line art, and 3D-fractals, these activities use mathematical concepts to make interesting and beautiful works, many of which you can take home!

Drawing on Complexity with Briony Barr: Klein Bottle Experiment (Saturday & Sunday 12 – 4 pm)

Over the weekend, visitors will contribute to a collaborative artwork by Brisbane-based artist Briony Barr using paper and washi tape. This body of work, ‘Drawing on Complexity’ uses rule-based drawing and social dynamics to model complex adaptive systems, and has been designed in collaboration with physicist Andrew Melatos.

Key event details

Date & time:

Saturday 16 August & Sunday 17 August 2025

12 pm – 4 pm

Cost:

Free

Location:

The Chau Chak Wing Museum

University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus

'Is Dijkstra's Algorithm Optimal?' - A Basser-SMRI Joint Seminar by Robert Tarjan
2025-12-01 14:00 - 16:00
Dijkstra’s algorithm is a classic algorithm for doing route planning. Given a starting location it finds shortest paths from to all other reachable locations using the greedy method. Not only does it find shortest paths, it finds these in increasing order by length. A natural question is whether this algorithm is best possible. The answer depends on exactly how one poses the question. The talk will cover recent work by the speaker and his colleagues that gives the answer “yes” and briefly examine work by others that gives the answer “no.”

Join us for the first Basser-SMRI Joint Seminar, to be given by Robert Tarjan (Princeton). Basser Seminars highlight the best of computer science research. Feel free to distribute to others that may be interested. After the seminar, please join us for a special afternoon tea, held at 3 pm.

Robert Tarjan, Princeton University

Robert Tarjan is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. He has held academic positions at Cornell, Berkeley, Stanford, and NYU, and industrial research positions at Bell Labs, NEC, HP, Microsoft, and Intertrust Technologies. He has invented or co-invented many of the most efficient known data structures and graph algorithms. He was awarded the first Nevanlinna Prize from the International Mathematical Union in 1982 for “for outstanding contributions to mathematical aspects of information science,” the Turing Award in 1986 with John Hopcroft for “fundamental achievements in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures,” and the Paris Kanellakis Award in Theory and Practice in 1999 with Daniel Sleator for the invention of splay trees. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U. S. National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Key event details

Date & time:

Monday 1 December 2025

Seminar: 2 — 3 pm

Afternoon tea 3 pm — 4 pm

Cost:

This is a free event

Location:

The Quad General Lecture Theatre K2.05

University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus
