Welcome to PiFORUM24

This event has now ended. Thank you to everyone who came along! You can read about how it went in our 2024 newsletter – click here!

Piscopia Initiative – Female and Other Researchers United in Mathematics

Location: University of Leicester

Date: Monday 2nd – Tuesday 3rd September 2024

The Piscopia Initiative are planning our fourth PiFORUM event, to be hosted this September at the University of Leicester. After the success of our previous events both online and in person at Edinburgh and Birmingham, we hope that this year we can see even more of our community in person and celebrate the research that is being done around the women and underrepresented genders in mathematics!

On this page:

  1. Important deadlines:
  2. What will the day include?
  3. The Mini-Symposium
  4. the tech bros
  5. Funding
  6. What to expect on the sign up form

Important deadlines:

Monday 20th May

Registration Opens!

Friday 19th July

Deadline for contributed talk and funding applications.

Friday 2nd August

Deadline for registering to attend.

Outcome of all funding applications will be communicated.

13th August

Deadline to sign up and pay for social dinner.

Late August

Official schedule confirmed.

What will the day include?

See below our provisional schedule across the two days:

  • This conference is open to undergraduates, postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers.
  • For the first time this year, Piscopia will be coordinating it’s own mini-symposium based around the theme of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (very on brand of us!)
  • We hope to have parallel sessions of contributed talks that are categorised by theme to maximise the number of speakers we can host and allowing attendees to choose the talks that are relevant to their own study and interests. There will also be a poster competition. Talks will be approximately 15 minutes with 5 minutes for questions.
  • With workshops focused on topics such as building confidence and career development, we hope to give attendees the opportunity to gain advice on subjects beyond their own research. We also want to foster a safe space for women and underrepresented genders where they feel supported and encouraged. We are also planning to offer mock interviews for undergraduates who will be applying for PhDs in the coming academic year.
  • There will be prizes!
  • We’d like to be as transparent as possible about how the event is run, from how we allocate funding all the way to what to wear on the day. If you have any questions, then please do not hesitate to contact us via email or on our social media platforms!

The Mini-Symposium

This year we have organised our first mini-symposium based around Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. Our speakers will be:

  • Tiffany Vlaar from the University of Glasgow – one of our very own co-founders! Her talk is entitled “The Piscopia Initiative: From Initial Conditions to Evolving Solutions”
  • Genovefa Kefalidou from the University of Leicester with a talk entitled “From ‘Decolonising’ Computing to uncovering hidden inequalities and inequities in STEM research culture”
  • Brigitte Stenhouse from the Open University with a talk entitled “The how, when, and why of introducing history into a mathematics curriculum: Reflections from the History for Diversity in Mathematics Network”

the tech bros

We are excited to be collaborating with Milette Gillow of the tech bros., who will be running a workshop on “How to Fail Fast: Ideation for Startups” at PiFORUM24! the tech bros. is an organisation enabling the next generation of female-founded unicorns to exist. Last month they launched with a hackathon in partnership with ICL and Google, in which 80 women across STEM (many who had never coded) enjoyed a weekend of panels, workshops, and coding. They are launching a full accelerator program in 2025 for women with technical backgrounds.

Funding

We are grateful for the financial support from the Glasgow Mathematical Journal Learning and Research Support Fund.

The event is also supported by G-Research, the London Mathematical Society and the Edinburgh Mathematical Society.

What to expect on the sign up form

  • Section 1: About You – name, institution, your maths interests
  • Section 2: Socials – whether you’d like to attend the conference dinner and/or a social the night before the conference
  • Section 3: Other info – any special requests (dietary requirements, accessibility etc)
  • Section 4: What do you hope to gain from attending this event? (max 200 words)

Page last updated: 07/01/2025