Bringing UK maths together

Mathematics in the UK is soon to have a brand new focal point: an Academy for the Mathematical Sciences, which will support the field in all its breadth and represent all people who work in it, from teachers in schools to researchers at university. The website of the Academy has just gone live, taking us one step further toward the Academy's full launch in 2025.

The new Academy will be an authoritative and persuasive voice for the whole of the mathematical sciences.

The idea that an Academy for the Mathematical Sciences should be established in the UK was a key recommendation from a review called The era of mathematics launched by Philip Bond in 2018 at the House of Lords. Several important and long-established mathematical organisations already existed at the time, but with mathematics being such a diverse field, impacting on many different areas of life, none of them represented maths in its entirety. The Council for Mathematical Sciences took Bond's recommendation on board, and with help from (among others) our good friends at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences the path towards setting up the Academy began to take shape.

"The Academy for the Mathematical Sciences will be an authoritative and persuasive voice for the whole of the mathematical sciences," says Executive Director Christie Marr. "We will work together to develop, communicate, teach and use the power of the mathematical sciences to benefit our world. This includes teaching and education, academic research pushing the frontiers of what is known, and the implementation of mathematics in practice."

"The Academy will be dedicated to supporting the advancement of maths, ensuring that it delivers on its potential to enrich our world, by nurturing the people pipeline, and increasing societal engagement and recognition of the value, and indeed beauty, of mathematics. We know that the mathematical sciences improve lives, help people, help society, and improve the economy and productivity."

If you are a maths teacher, student, researcher, or work with maths within industry and government, and would like to find out more about the Academy, then you can register your interest here. And if you would like to find out more about the process that led to the establishment of the Academy, see here.