NEWSLETTER

Young Mathematicians‘ Column (YMCo)
makes the popularisation of my subject a little bit easier.
Anyway, we have to keep trying to make mathematics
appealing and understandable to the general public and
if this kind of contest can help, it is great!
Would you suggest this contest to PhD candidates? If
yes, is this more appropriate at the beginning or at the
end of their thesis?
Of course I would advise PhD candidates to participate;
it is a thrilling adventure and an exciting personal challenge.
It is maybe better in the middle of their thesis.
They should take a year or two to watch the previous
contests, gain experience in giving talks and get a more
global point of view on their work. At the end of their
thesis, they will probably have more important things to
do, such as writing their thesis!
Thank you Adrien. My last question is: ‘What would
you advise to future participants?’
Practise again and again and again! And enjoy yourself;
it’s a game after all!
2
“Want to be a Professor? Choose Math”, Career Magazine,
24 July 2015.
3
“The impact of doctoral careers”, Final report. Leicester:
CFE Research, Page 23 (2014).
4
In Belgium, five years after PhD graduation, 33% of doctorate
holders are still working at a university. More information
can be found in ”Careers of doctorate holders: employment
and mobility”, patterns/STI working paper 2010/4. Paris
OECD, Auriol, L. (2010).
5
”Improving knowledge transfer between research institutions
and industry across Europe: embracing open innovation”,
European commission (2007).
6
“Promoting the action – Visibility of EU funding”, Article 38
in Horizon 2020.
7
Look at the September 2015 EMS Newsletter for a nice example.
When I started writing this article, at least two questions
came to mind. Why did universities create these contests
and why are there so many participants? I would like to
provide some clues.
Nowadays, more than 50% of young doctors will NOT
pursue their career in academia. 2,3,4 Making a career in
another field, which has only been an available option
recently, is becoming more and more the norm. At the
same time, universities are improving transfers of skills
with industry, 5 increasing the visibility of research toward
the general public 6 and sharing knowledge with society.
These actions have led to changes in doctoral training.
Concerned about the employability of their doctors
after their theses, universities have set up a suitable training
programme for PhD candidates. Soft skills courses
are (most of the time) part of this training programme.
The general purpose of these courses is to develop skills
that are useful both in academia and in other professional
fields. Beside purely scientific tasks that are essential in
order to submit a thesis, soft skills and other side activities
of PhD candidates are more than ever in the spotlight.
Researchers, and particularly researchers in mathematics,
are no longer living in an ivory tower, disconnected
from the real world. Many diversified initiatives have
come about to popularise mathematics: websites, forums,
books, movies, documentaries, exhibitions, 7 public presentations,
contests, high school operations research and
so on. PhD candidates take part in these interventions
and get involved in the visibility of mathematics to the
general public.
To conclude, besides completing PhD theses, young
researchers are gaining soft skills like communication,
education, popularisation and so on. Such skills are styles
of the day in addition to being necessary in many professional
fields. I think that soft skills courses and initiatives
like 3MT or MT180 still have several great years ahead.
The author thanks all those friends who contributed
with their careful reading and useful suggestions.
Marie Kreusch is a young doctor in mathematics
at the University of Liège (ULg)
in Belgium. Besides the teaching and research
activities at ULg, she is involved in
the projects ‘Math à Modeler’ and ‘MATh.
en.JEANS’ that disseminate mathematics
in high school. She was also a member of
the council and office of doctoral education
at ULg for two years and is still taking
part in the PhD network at ULg.
ALGEBRAIC
GEOMETRY II
David Mumford &
Tadao Oda
Several generations of students
of algebraic geometry have
learned the subject from David
Mumford's fabled "Red Book"
containing notes of his lectures
at Harvard University.
Initially notes to the course
were mimeographed and bound
and sold by the Harvard math
department with a red cover.
These old notes were picked up
by Springer and are now sold as
the Red book of Varieties and
Schemes. However, every time
I taught the course, the content
changed and grew. I had aimed to
eventually publish more polished
notes in three volumes...
-From the preface
This book contains what Mumford had then intended to be Volume II. It
covers the material in the "Red Book" in more depth with several more topics
added. The notes have been brought to the present form in collaboration
with Tadao Oda.
Texts and Readings in Mathematics Vol. 73
Oct 2015 516pp 9789380250809 Hardback €89.00
Free delivery worldwide at www.eurospanbookstore.com/hindbook
Hindustan Book Agency is distributed by Eurospan|group
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EMS Newsletter September 2015 51