The 10th international meeting organized by the European Women
in Mathematics (EWM) took place in
Malta,
starting on Friday 24 August to Thursday 30 August.
The conference was open to members and non-members of
EWM. A brief report of the conference can be
downloaded.
The
University of Malta
was started
by the Jesuits in the 16th century and is the oldest University in the
Commonwealth outside Britain. The Department of Mathematics has two
main areas of research: algebraic graph theory and combinatorics,
and mathematical physics.
Organizing committee
-
Christine Bessenrodt (Germany),
-
Laura Fainsilber (Sweden),
-
Tatiana Ivanova (Russia),
-
Emilia Mezzetti (Italy),
-
Marie-Francoise Roy (France),
-
Irene Sciriha (Malta),
-
Tsou Sheung Tsun (United Kingdom, chair).
Timetable
- Thursday 23 August
- ---Arrival and registration
- ---Getting to know one another and learning
Maltese
- Friday 24 August
- ---10:00-12:00 Registration
- ---10:45 Coffee
- ---12:30 Lunch
- ---15:00 Welcome
- ---15:15 Applied 1: Diener
- ---16:30 Coffee
- ---17:00 Socio 1: Chaleyat-Maurel
- ---18:15-18:45 Further registration
- ---19:00 Dinner
- ---20:30 Getting to know one another and
poster-making
- Saturday 25 August
- ---09:30 Inter 1: Weiss
- ---10:45 Coffee
- ---11:15 Pure 1: de Fabritiis
- ---12:30 Lunch
- ---15:00 EMS 1: Vergne
- ---16:30 Coffee
- ---17:00 Socio 2: Hermann
- ---17:40 Socio Short: Spitaleri
- ---18:00 Open discussion on ETAN
- ---19:00 Dinner
- ---20:30 Poster 1 (till about 22:00)
- Sunday 26 August
- ---09:30 Applied 2: Pontier
- ---10:45 Coffee
- ---11:15 Inter 2: de la Ossa
- ---12:30 Lunch
- ---15:00 Poster 2
- ---16:30 Coffee
- ---17:00 EWM General Meeting
- ---19:00 Conference Dinner
- Monday 27 August
- ---09:30 Pure 2: Ito
- ---10:45 Coffee
- ---11:15 Applied 3: Bellamy
- ---12:30 Lunch
- ---15:00 EMS 2: Vergne
- ---16:30 Coffee
- ---17:00 Shorts 1: Rehberg
- ---17:30 EMS Questionnaire project:
Kersten and Mezzetti
- ---19:00 Dinner
- ---20:30 Poster 3 (till about 22:00)
- Tuesday 28 August
- ---Excursion to Gozo
- Wednesday 29 August
- ---09:30 Socio 3: Bruckler
- ---10:45 Coffee
- ---11:15 Inter 3: Series
- ---12:30 Lunch
- ---15:00 EMS 3: Vergne
- ---16:30 Coffee
- ---17:00 Pure Short: Fantechi
- ---17:30 Inter Short: Rietsch
- ---18:00 Shorts 2: Schiller
- ---19:00 Dinner
- ---20:30 Various social activities
- Thursday 30 August
- ---Departure
Programme
- (1) 2001 EMS Lectures, by Michele Vergne
(Paris).
- (2) Pure session on "Cohomology theories", organized
by Barbara Fantechi, with speakers Chiara de Fabritiis (Ancona) and
Yukari Ito (Japan).
-
(3) Applied session on "Mathematics applied to finance", organized by
Francine Diener (Nice), with Monique Pontier (Toulouse) and Nadine
Bellamy (Evry).
-
(4) Interdisciplinary session on "The Uses of Geometry", organized by
Tsou Sheung Tsun, with speakers Xenia de la Ossa (Oxford),
Caroline Series (Warwick) and Asia Weiss (Canada).
-
(5) Socio-political Session on "Mathematics outside the classroom: cultural
differences", organized by Marie-Francoise Roy, Laura
Fainsilber, and Rosa Maria Spitaleri, with speakers Mireille
Chaleyat Maurel (Paris) and
Franka Miriam Bruckler (Croatia). We also had Claudine
Hermann (Paris), a
representative from the ETAN project, to give a talk and
initiate a discussion on
the socio-political dimension of gender inequalilty, with also a short
talk by Rosa Maria Spitaleri.
-
(6) Poster session, organized by Tatiana Ivanova: all participants were
encouraged to present their work this way. There were about 35
posters in all.
-
(7) In addition to the scheduled sessions, there were spontaneously
generated round-tables (in particular, one on the ethics of using
mathematics in finance), and various discussion groups.
In particular, there was a
discussion session on the `Questionnaire project' initiated by Emilia
Mezzetti (Trieste) on behalf of the EMS `Women and Math' Committee.
Titles of main talks
-
Nadine Bellamy:
Portfolio optimization in finance: an
introduction
-
Franka Miriam Buckler:
Popularization of mathematics: local and not so local perspective
-
Mireille Chaleyat-Maurel: Raising Public Awareness in Mathematics:
the WMY2000 experience
-
Chiara de Fabritiis:
Analytical and geometrical features of de Rham and Dolbeault cohomology
-
Xenia De La Ossa: Geometry in string theory
-
Francine Diener:
Derivatives: a scientific revolution of the seventies
-
Claudine Hermann: Women in Science in
Europe and in France
-
Yukari Ito:
The McKay correspondence --- a bridge from Algebra to Geomtry
-
Monique Pontier:
Why heavy tails in financial series ? estimation
and tests
-
Caroline Series: Why is there Hyperbolic Geometry in Dynamical Systems?
-
Michele Vergne:
Convex Polytopes.
-
Asia Weiss:
Tessellations and Related Modular Groups
Titles of contributed short talks
-
Barbara Fantechi: Cohomology of sheaves
-
Bettina Rehberg: Toeplitz and Hankel Operators on Generalized
Bergman-Hardy Spaces
-
Konstanze Rietsch: Total positivity, flag varieties and quantum
cohomology
-
Sabine Schiller: Math-Kit: a multimedia project for teaching
-
Rosa Maria Spitaleri: Focus on Women and Science in Italy
List of participants
-
There were 65 participants from outside of
Malta, and 11 participants from Malta, giving a total of 76
participants
coming from 21 countries and 4 continents. Photos
available.
Photos
taken by Christine Bessenrodt can also be
viewed. More photos are
here.
EWM General Meeting
-
The EWM General Meeting took place in the afternoon of 26th August.
The new Standing Committee was elected, with Ljudmila Bordag as Convenor.
Some members of the Organizing Committee were also elected, the remaining
vacancies to be filled later once the place for the next meeting in 2003
is decided. Topics for that meeting and also for workshops in the even
years were discussed. Regional coordinators were elected. The usual
business was successfully conducted.
Accommodation
-
Most participants were housed in the
Plaza Hotel in Sliema, Malta, where
the meeting took place. It is a pleasant hotel with swimming
pool by the beach. All rooms have bathroom ensuite.
- Prices (Exchange rate at present: 2.6 euro
= Lm 1)
- Single: Lm 18:50 (limited number)
- Twin: Lm 13:50
(3rd and/or 4th adult sharing: 25% less)
- Superior Twin: Lm 16:50
- One meal: Lm 4:00
- Some participants stayed at:
- 1. Victoria Hotel Lm 35 B&B Tel 00356 334711
- 2. Diplomat Lm 28 B&B Tel 00356 345361
- These are in Sliema near where the conference is taking place.
- Some others stayed at the Hibernia Hostel, 5 minutes from the Plaza.
Registration
-
There was an EWM registration fee of 30 euros
to be paid directly to EWM on arrival. This fee was waived in cases of
hardship.
Support
- The EMS made a small grant to us to enable mathematicians
from Eastern Europe to attend the EMS lectures.
- Owing to the skill and diligence of our committee member Emilia Mezzetti
and EWM treasurer Cathy Hobbs, our application to the EU was successful.
A substantial grant was made to enable us to offer
financial support to a good number of participants from countries
supported by the EU, and to help in the running costs of the meeting.
- We are waiting for
results of our UNESCO application.
- We received material and personnel assistance from the University
of Malta. Ms Annabelle Attard from their mathematics department supplied
much needed secretarial help.
- World
Scientific Publishing Company (Singapore) and Discovery Bookstore (Malta)
donated material and offered discount on their books.
Local information
-
Some practical local information can be found
here,
although it is mostly from a
British point of view.
Transport
-
We invited Air Malta
to be our official carrier, who have generously offered a 15% discount
to all participants, subject to certain
conditions as detailed. Quite a number of participants benefited
from this offer.
Arrival
-
From Luqa airport there are buses to Valletta and then to Sliema.
Those accommodated in the Hibernia Hostel generally got free
transport from the airport. The Plaza hotel arranged for taxis to
pick up those accommodated there.
Contact Address
Dr. Tsou Sheung Tsun
Mathematical Institute
24-29 St. Giles'
Oxford OX1 3LB
United Kingdom
Fax +44 1865 273583
email: ewm01@maths.ox.ac.uk
