OxWIM Day 2025 - Abstracts

Thank you to everyone who came to OxWIM Day 2025. Stay tuned for announcements for OxWIM Day 2026!

10:45 - 11:30

Anthea Monod - At a crossroads in Mathematics: Trying to do everything

Spoiler: You can't. In this talk I will share some perspectives on my intersectional journey through mathematics: on my research (which combines pure mathematics and computation, data analysis, statistics, and machine learning); on my career trajectory (I've been in statistics, mathematics, electrical engineering, and computational biology departments); on having a baby without having a job, and then having a very busy job and having another baby... The hope is to start an open conversation on what I've learned when things go wrong when it looks like they should go right, how things can also go right when it looks like everything is going wrong, how important it is to have support when you're trying to make a career in a really difficult and demanding field (especially if you're young and if you're from an underrepresented minority), and how that support can come from anywhere.

11:30 - 12:30

Early Career Speakers

Claudia de Sousa Miranda Pérez - Haemoglobin polymerisation in sickle cell disease

Sickle-cell disease (SCD) is a genetic blood disorder with symptoms induced by the polymerisation of sickle haemoglobin (HbS) inside red blood cells (RBCs). In this talk, we will present a minimal model of polymerisation in SCD with analytical solutions that contain the key physics explaining the heterogeneity seen in this disease.

Luisa Estrada Plata - On the limits of PAC learning of networks from opinion dynamics

Agents in social networks with threshold-based dynamics change opinions when influenced by sufficiently many peers. Existing literature typically assumes that the network structure and dynamics are fully known, which is often unrealistic. In this work, we ask how to learn a network structure from samples of the agents' synchronous opinion updates. Firstly, if the opinion dynamics follow a threshold rule where a fixed number of influencers prevent opinion change (e.g., unanimity and quasi-unanimity), we give an efficient PAC learning algorithm provided that the number of influencers per agent is bounded. Secondly, under standard computational complexity assumptions, we prove that if the opinion of agents follows the majority of their influencers, then there is no efficient PAC learning algorithm. We propose a polynomial-time heuristic that successfully learns consistent networks in over 97% of our simulations on random graphs, with no failures for some specified conditions on the numbers of agents and opinion diffusion examples.

Inés García Redondo - Persistent Homology: revealing the shape of data through algebraic topology

Real-world data is full of intricate shapes—proteins that fold and knot, medical images where cell arrangements reveal disease progression, or social networks that form loops and branching trees. Yet, standard statistical methods often fall short in capturing "shape" as a meaningful factor in data analysis. In this short presentation, I’ll introduce Persistent Homology: a powerful tool that fuses geometry, algebra, and data science to uncover hidden structures in complex data, with successful applications across a wide range of real-world domains.

Nivedita - Functorial Field Theories

We discuss various axiomatic approaches to quantum field theories. We introduce the definition of Functorial Field Theories and discuss how various mathematical disciplines including (but not limited to) category theory, topology, (higher) algebra and functional analysis come together in this area of study.

Ashleigh Ratcliffe - Solving Diophantine equations - A systematic approach

Solving Diophantine equations, polynomial equations with integer coefficients for which we are interested in finding integer solutions, attracts many mathematicians across the globe. From the negative solution to Hilbert's 10th problem, we know that a general method for solving all such equations cannot exist. In this talk, we discuss a systematic approach: define a suitable notion of "size'' of a polynomial Diophantine equation, order all equations by size, and solve them in this order. On the way, we solve thousands of equations using dozens of existing and new methods. The smallest equations that we cannot solve using these methods are listed as open.

Paulina Smolarova - Approximate Sampling via Markov Chains

Often, we are interested in sampling from a distribution, where exact sampling is not computationally feasible. However, sometimes while exact sampling is computationally hard, one can still design an approximate sampler. One way is using Markov chains. It is a well-known fact that (under certain conditions) a Markov chain converges to its stationary distribution, thus one way of designing an efficient sampler is to design a Markov chain with a suitable stationary distribution and show its fast convergence to equilibrium.

In this talk, using an example of a Potts model – a random model on graphs originating from statistical physics, I will talk about some methods for obtaining fast convergence and thus fast approximate samplers.

Sophie Maclean - "It's knot that deep"

Sometimes, we can get wrapped up in battling through problem sheets and applying for maths jobs. We can forget why we fell in love with the subject in the first place. We can be fooled into thinking that if maths isn't super difficult, then it isn't worthwhile. I'm here to remind you that it's not that deep. All maths is valid, and doing maths is about way more than passing exams.

Join me for an hour of relaxed knot-themed maths crafts, and remember that maths is, ultimately, good fun. No crafting experience is necessary, and feel free to bring along any projects of your own, or just come to hang out!

11:30 - 12:00

Jennie Golding - A gendered life in Mathematics: choice and chance

In this talk I’ll take a historical and gendered lens to the multiple roles I’ve had through my career in mathematics and mathematics education. I’ll show how many of those roles were the result of chance encounters, choices made, and opportunities taken – as well as the prevalent culture. I’ll reflect on the sources of the many satisfactions, as well as the tensions, encountered – and suggest evidence-based ways in which we as a society can, in our present society, support more equitable access to mathematical thriving.

12:00 - 12:30

Meena Mehta Kotecha - Unpacking Mathematics Anxiety in University Settings

What is mathematics anxiety and why is it an important issue? Why are some university student cohorts more anxious about engaging with mathematics compared to others? Is there any gender difference in their reported mathematics anxiety? We will explore questions such as these in this interactive talk about mathematics anxiety and its impact at individual, societal, national and global levels. I will touch upon the recent research inspired by my passion to help students tackle mathematics anxiety which is known to be prevalent among university students irrespective of their mathematical abilities.

1:30 - 2:15

Charles Martinez - Introduction to G-Research

We are a leading quantitative research and technology company based in London. Day to day we use a variety of quantitative techniques to predict financial markets from large data sets worldwide. Mathematics, statistics, machine learning, natural language processing and deep learning is what our business is built on. Our culture is academic and highly intellectual. In this seminar we will explain our background and current AI research applications to finance. We will also cover our ongoing outreach, recruitment and grants programme. The talk will be aimed at students who are curious about quant finance or interested in internship opportunities.

Keisha Thompson - Pushing the Tower of PISA

For anyone unfamiliar with PISA, it is a world wide assessment tool for 15 year olds across the globe. In 2022, creativity within mathematics was tested for the first time. Reports released last year revealed that in every country female-identifying participants demonstrated higher levels of creativity than their male identifying participants. An intriguing find, no? Somehow the main substantial conclusion drawn from these results was that male participants need to be “encouraged to be more creative”. How boring! The patriarchy is strong, eh? Well do not fear. Join me for a roundtable of fun as we destruct the assessment paper and reports. Through the medium of collage and zine-ing, we will find a way to celebrate the creativity of female-identifying mathematicians.

2:15 - 3:00

Eleonora Svanberg - Doing Mathematics and Other Smart Things When You’re Stupid: Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

Ever felt stupid while doing mathematics? In this talk, I share my personal journey with impostor syndrome—from nearly failing my first high school physics exam to now pursuing a PhD in mathematical physics. I’ll discuss how moments of self-doubt and feelings of not belonging pushed me to seek support and build a community, transforming challenges into opportunities along the way. I will also introduce the background to what impostor syndrome is, explore its impact on academic life, and share practical strategies for overcoming it. The goal is to gain confidence to seek opportunities beyond what might feel comfortable — hoping to inspire you to pursue an academic career, even when it feels daunting.

Milette Gillow - 0 to 1: From Theorems to Startups

In this talk, I’ll share my journey from my PhD (set theory / combinatorics) to building a career in startups, venture capital, and classical music. Although maths didn’t directly lead me here, it gave me the confidence and credibility to carve out my own path. I’ll talk about the skills I picked up along the way, how my background has shaped the way I approach problems, and common misconceptions when it comes to founding your first startup. I’ll also dive into my work with The Tech Bros, where we’re working to support female-founded tech companies, and show that the tech world isn’t just for, well… tech bros. If you’ve ever wondered what’s out there beyond academia, quant trading, or big corporates, this one’s for you.

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