CONFIDENTIAL
Wales Institute of Mathematical and Computational
Sciences
Sefydliad Gwyddorau Mathemategol a Chyfrifiannol Cymru
Partner Institutions: Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University, University
of Glamorgan, Swansea University
Director:
Professor Terry J Lyons FRS FRSE
Administrator:
Stephen
Williamson
Outreach Coordinator:
Alison Braddock
Minutes of WIMCS RESEARCH COMMITTEE MEETING held at
1.30pm on Monday 5th July 2010 at Swansea
Chair: Prof Terry Lyons
Secretary: Stephen Williamson
Attendees: Prof Vass Mavron, Aberystwyth; Prof Russell Davies, Cardiff; Prof David
Evans, Cardiff; Prof Paul Harper, Cardiff; Prof Tim Phillips, Cardiff; Prof Ron
Wiltshire, Glamorgan; Prof Niels Jacob, Swansea; Prof Vitali Liskevich, Swansea;
Prof Ken Morgan, Swansea
Apologies: Prof Gennady Mishuris, Aberystwyth, Prof Alan Shore, Bangor, Prof
Eugene Lytvynov, Swansea
1. Minutes of previous meeting (14th December 2009) were accepted and apologies
noted.
2. Re: Previous Minutes
2 (l ) (ii) it was clarified that FEC of sharing WIMCS office space would be payable
by HE STEM.
2(a) TL advised he had been in contact with Robert Leese, Smiths Institute, who is
generally very supportive, and would be happy to work with WIMCS where there was
industrial involvement.
3. Items from the Chair
a) Committee Business agreed since last meeting - Agenda items 3.1 – noted.
b) Dr Gareth Roberts – His contract had been extended by Director for 3 months. He
would be leaving Cardiff and starting at Chester on 1st August. TL on behalf of the
RC requested thanks to him and to all the other Fellows who have contributed to
WIMCS be minuted.
c) Dr Wen Zhao – TL explained that Cardiff Physics had last Autumn extended his
contract for a further year without reference to WIMCS as they believed that as there
would be funding remaining after Dr Zhao and Dr D Baskaran’s current contracts
were completed they could do this. This only came to light when they requested a
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further 3 months extension to allow Dr Zhao to return to the UK after going abroad in
the Summer. As a decision was needed quickly, and as from Dr Zhao’s reports there
was evidence that his research was proceeding well, TL had agreed. A retrospective
proposal request had now been received, and EL as Stochastics Cluster Co-ordinator
would be asked to formally review it.
EL
It was raised that Prof Peter Coles, Cardiff Astronomy, is someone WIMCS should
engage with. He uses quite a lot of probability. In particular he should be invited to
give a talk.
EL
It was also raised that WIMCS should contact Mr Geraint Jones, Director Strategic
Development, Research and Commercial
Division
Cardiff
TL
d) Appointments etc
(i) Dr A Mughal, Aberystwyth, appointed from April 2010.
(ii) Dr I Wigman, Cardiff appointed from August 2010 for 1 yr not 2 yrs due to work
permit delays. 1 yr funding therefore remains.
(iii) Replacement of Prof Michael Levitin: DE was asked to leave the room for this
item as it involved him.
RD explained that the current funding climate meant that it was not possible to
directly replace the Chair position of Prof M Levitin.
Instead he proposed that the money that became available should be used to
1) Pay the salary of DE (who was already a WIMCS Professor) until at least
October 2011 – current WIMCS funding end date.
2) Use the funding that would become available from this together with the
funding resulting from Dr Wigman’s appointment for 1yr (originally 2) to
contribute to appointing 3 “WIMCS” positions
a) a readership in Analysis
b) a lectureship in Analysis
c) a lectureship in Biofluids Modelling
He was keen that the appointments particularly the readership should have a reduced
teaching load and hoped this would be possible.
TL noted that appointment should follow normal WIMCS procedures.
RW asked if the interests of Analysis Cluster were same as Cardiff Maths
VL noted the challenge in making the appointments that could bring Analysis together
across the partners, but felt this was an important goal.
RD agreed that it was important to have a fit but that excellence was essential.
TL summarised the general view that RD should proceed as he had outlined, that all
the positions should be WIMCS, and that it should be made clear that the appointees
a) b) would need to work with VL and engage with the Analysis Cluster and c) with
the Computational Modelling Cluster.
(iv) Fellowship in Engineering, Swansea (2 years).
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NJ advised that the proposal to make this a permanent appointment in mathematics
had not been approved.
TL asked the RC to consider whether WIMCS should request permission from
HEFCW to vire some of this funding to support the positions of the Outreach Co-
ordinator where the funding expired in November 2010 and maybe the WIMCS
Administrator where funding may expire in Summer 2011 given that HEFCW
funding continued only till 31st October 2011.
DE asked if any of eg HE STEM overheads were coming to WIMCS.
TL advised that none at the current time and he intended to raise the issue again at the
EC Meeting on 7th July. He had discussed the Engineering Position with Prof J Bonet,
Swansea Engineering. Prof Bonet’s view was that funds allocated to support research
positions should wherever possible be used accordingly. TL advised that normally he
supported this view, and it was with reluctance that he was asking the RC to agree
that if no other funding was available then he should ask HEFCW if the funds needed
(at the moment it seems as if £14k for Outreach Co-ordinator is needed) could be
vired.
The RC agreed.
(v) Maths and Health Facilitator, Cardiff
RD advised interviews had taken place the previous week, and Ms Joanna Emery, a
statistics graduate, who had been working at GE Aircraft Engine Services for 10 yrs,
had been appointed for 3 years – first year funded by WIMCS.
e) Funding Requests
(i)
Prof. Zhiglajavsky – it was agreed to sponsor the air fares of 4 named
individuals at up to £300 each. WIMCS sponsorship must be mentioned.
(ii)
Prof Bordas – it was agreed that this would be paid for by CM cluster
(iii)
Prof Flynn - £300 – agreed
(iv)
Porf Marletta - £400 – agreed.
f) Update on Recent Initiatives
(i)
LMS Invited Lecturer – Although the numbers attending Prof Maury
Bramson, Minnesota, ’s lectures could have been greater, they had been
well received by those who did. TL thanked Swansea for hosting them.
(ii)
Isaac Newton
KM confirmed arrangements for 2011 Meeting
TL advised that DE had agreed to make a proposal in Noncommutative
Geometry for 2012.
(iii)
Health
PH confirmed successful launch of hmc2 attended by nearly 100. He was
in discussion with WORD (now NISCHR) about joint funding.
The meeting with WAG was going ahead on 29th July with presentations
from TL, PH and Prof P Nithiarasu.
(iv)
Leverhulme
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Professor M Marletta, Cardiff ’s proposal has reached the second round.
Professor S Adhikari, Swansea has agreed to make the next proposal.
(v)
Outreach
DCELLS had recently announced that WIMCS proposal for Further Maths
Support for Schools in Wales would be funded (£430k)
(vi)
HE STEM
Alison Braddock is appointed Regional Director and 2 more appointments
are expected to be made in July.
(vii)
National Science Academy (NSA)
TL explained that that it was something that he had not sought, and felt it
was something of an honour to have received it, but it fitted very well with
the other WIMCS Outreach activities. The Director understands he has the
support of Prof Richard Davies and Prof Iwan Davies at Swansea, and he
would be having further dialogue with Dr R Garside-Jones, WAG and Prof
J Harries, Chief Scientific Officer for Wales to formulate plans.
NJ emphasised that Pure Maths was critical, and that there was a real need
for a Graduate School in Analysis or Stochastics.
4. Sustainability
TL’s Sustainability Document
TL thanked those who had made comments. The slightly negative phrasing in the
sentences was entirely accidental.
(Corrected
version
attached)
In the discussion the following points were made:
WIMCS was well placed to make a holistic case. It must celebrate successes, and
quality should not be sacrificed for the sake of quantity. It must take account of likely
changes such as probability of fewer HEIs in Wales in the future and the
amalgamation of Schools eg Cardiff and Swansea Physics. It was mentioned that as a
result some groups eg Theoretical Physicists at Swansea might prefer to be part of
Mathematics.
5. HEFCW Strategic targets
Targets include a) Visitor Research Programmes b) Advanced Fellowships c) Funding
raised d) Individual Visitors
An audit of what has been achieved
is
needed SW
5. Brochure
TL thanked all those who had put input in so far, but it was agreed that the proposed
brochure required more work.
RD/RW/SW agreed to meet to work on this
SW
6. International Review of Mathematics
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TL advised that WIMCS had been invited to present on behalf of the Welsh
Institutions in December. He would ask SW to write to the Heads of Schools to get 1
representative from each on a
working
group. SW
TL said a key decision was whether to have individual Institutional submissions or a
single WIMCS submission.
7. WIMCS Annual Meeting
Agreed that this would be from 20th-22nd December at Cardiff
RD/SW
8. The meeting closed at about 5pm. No date has been set for next meeting.
Wales Institute of Mathematical and Computational Sciences
Digital Technium, Singleton Park Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP
Tel: 01792 602854/5