We are delighted to announce the dates for the Consultation Period and to invite you to book a place at one of our Consultation Events….
Consultation
The Academy for the Mathematical Sciences is currently in its “proto-Academy” set-up phase. We want to consult on the progress to date – and to seek your views to inform and shape next steps and the Academy’s early priorities. To that end, we will publish a consultation document on 26 April – and we have arranged four online Consultation events during May. You can book your place to attend these events here. The consultation period will continue until 30 June 2023.
We are keen to consult widely, to inform next steps and to identify initial priorities for the Academy’s activities. Four consultation events have therefore been organised to bring together opinions from across the wide range of the mathematical sciences community. We have written to key people from different parts of the mathematical sciences and mathematics education communities and from across the UK asking them to encourage their colleagues to participate in this process.
Consultation timetable and events
The Consultation Period will begin on Wednesday 26 April with the publication of a Consultation Document and will run until Friday 30 June. The dates of the Consultation Events are as follows:
- Event 1: Thursday 4 May, 10am – 12 midday
- Event 2: Tuesday 16 May, 4pm – 5pm
- Event 3: Wednesday 17 May, 2pm – 4pm
- Event 4: Wednesday 24 May, 4pm – 5pm
You are invited to attend one (or more) of these events and to ask questions and tell us your views. All the events are open to everybody and will cover similar ground before responding to questions. We have chosen a range of dates and times to accommodate people’s needs.
To book your place to attend any of these events, please follow this link.
Please book your place by noon on the day before your chosen session to ensure you receive joining details. We cannot guarantee that you will be able to join a session if you book after this time.
Why are we consulting?
The purpose of the consultation period is so that we can share with you the work that we have done to date and so that we can listen to and understand your views and use the information to shape future decisions.
The Consultation Events will:
- Update attendees on progress to date;
- Provide an opportunity to feed into the organisational structure of the Academy to best support the mathematical sciences and mathematics education; and,
- Shape priorities for the Academy’s initial programme of activity.
Questions that we would value your views on will include:
- What areas would you like the Academy to focus on in its policy and advocacy work?
- What do you see as the greatest advantage(s)/obstacle(s) to education professionals engaging with the work of the Academy?
- What should be our highest priorities for supporting the early career mathematical scientists in your field?
Consultation Events will be virtual and participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of the panel. We are most grateful to the International Centre for the Mathematical Sciences (ICMS) for hosting these events.
Why do we need an Academy for the Mathematical Sciences?
The proposed Academy for the Mathematical Sciences (AcadMathSci) will be an authoritative and persuasive voice for the whole of the mathematical sciences across the UK where we, as teachers, researchers and users of mathematical sciences, work together to educate, to use and develop the mathematical sciences, and to communicate its power to benefit our world.
We believe that a national voice spanning these interests is essential to ensure that the mathematical sciences across the UK delivers on its potential to enrich our world by nurturing the people pipeline and by increasing societal engagement and recognition of the value, and beauty, of mathematics.
The Royal Academy of Engineering has clearly shown that substantial benefits accrue from having a single organisation connecting and speaking for education, innovation, research and industry, and which works with government to generate effective policy. We want AcadMathSci to focus on ways we can contribute to the broader policy and economic agenda both around maths education and practice itself, and the way in which maths can be used in wider policy discussions.
Our vision is for the Academy to be successful, working with flourishing existing learned societies and educational organisations.
Background: The 2021 Green Paper Consultation
The creation of a national Academy for the Mathematical Sciences to facilitate links between academia, government and industry and education, and to act as the coordinating focal point for the community was a key recommendation of the 2018 Bond Review, The Era of Mathematics. The Council for the Mathematical Sciences (CMS) welcomed the review and its recommendations and commissioned a working group to develop the proposals. In December 2021 they produced a Green Paper which went to the community for feedback.
Following that consultation and the recommendations in the Next Steps paper (further details can be found here), it was agreed that a “proto-Academy” should be established to put in place everything necessary for a Spring 2025 launch of the full Academy, subject to a Go:No-Go decision to be taken by CMS by October 2024. The Academy must be an authoritative and persuasive voice for the whole of the UK mathematical sciences including educators, practitioners and academics, working together to educate, to use and develop the mathematical sciences, and to communicate its power to benefit our world.
Much work has been done since the appointment in Autumn 2022 of an Executive Director and Executive Committee for the proto-Academy and now is the time for us to consult the community again to ensure that you have the opportunity to input your views, provide feedback on the work we have done so far, and influence our thinking as we identify priorities and develop the organisational structure of the Academy.