New Zealand Institute of Mathematics & its Applications (NZIMA)
Background, aims and activities of the NZIMA
The New Zealand Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (NZIMA)
was established in 2002 as one of the five
Centres of Research Excellence
selected by the NZ government in March 2002.
The NZIMA is hosted at the University of Auckland and headed by
Fields Medallist and Distinguished Alumni Professor
Vaughan Jones
DCNZM DSc FRS FRSNZ (Berkeley) and Professor Marston Conder DSc FRSNZ
(Auckland), with involvement of many
of the best pure and applied
mathematicians and statisticians from across the country.
The principal aims of the NZIMA are to
sustain and develop a critical mass of researchers in concentrations of excellence in mathematics and statistics and their applications,
act as a facilitator of access to new developments internationally in the mathematical sciences,
provide a focus on a source of high-level quantitative expertise in NZ across a range of areas,
assist and promote the engagement and application of mathematics and statistics, to other research disciplines and to NZ business, industry and local government, and
foster the development of knowledge and skills in the mathematical sciences in NZ, through encouragement, inclusion and support of students and early-career researchers, and outreach to schools, teachers and the general public.
It is modelled on similar mathematical research institutes
in other countries, notably the Fields Institute (Canada),
MSRI (Berkeley), and the Newton Institute (UK). In particular, it
will place considerable emphasis on world-class research
in fundamental
areas of the mathematical sciences and the
use of high-level mathematical techniques in modern application
areas
such as bioengineering, bioinformatics, medical statistics, operations
research, and risk assessment.
Its key activities include
the organisation of 6-monthly programmes on themes drawn from
a range of fields of significant interest
associated workshops held at various locations around NZ
establishment of postdoctoral fellowships in the theme areas
establishment of PhD scholarships in the theme areas
establishment of a small number of scholarships for open
competition to research students (from New Zealand or worldwide) in
unrestricted areas of the mathematical sciences,
on a merit basis
establishment of annual Maclaurin Fellowships (*), to enable
mathematical scientists from NZ or worldwide
to take time out from
their usual occupations and undertake full-time research in New
Zealand (or partly overseas if based in
New Zealand).
(* Richard Cockburn Maclaurin was a graduate of Auckland University College
who went on to study at Cambridge,
where he won the Smith Prize in
Mathematics and Yorke Prize in Law, and was appointed as Foundation Professor
of Mathematics at
Victoria University College in 1899, and later Dean of Law
and Professor of Astronomy. In 1908 he was invited to become President
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
and helped transform that
institution into the world-class research-based
technological university it
is today.)
The NZIMA was formally set up in June 2002 as a partnership between the University of
Auckland
(its host) and the
NZ Mathematics Research
Institute (Inc.).
Return to NZIMA Homepage
Last updated on 5 April 2007
by webmaster@nzima.auckland.ac.nz