Black Heroes of Mathematics

The British Society for the History of Mathematics, the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, the Isaac Newton Institute, the London Mathematical Society, and the Mathematical Association are holding a two day conference on Black Heroes of Mathematics. The conference web page is https://ima.org.uk/17081/online-event-black-heroes-of-mathematics-conference-2021/.

The Vision of the conference is “To celebrate the inspirational contributions of black role models to the field of Mathematics and Mathematics Education”. There will be a balance of technical talks by internationally renowned black speakers that include some detail of career paths and experience to provide a testimonial dimension. We plan to achieve a balance of career stage and gender.

To suit our audience and our line-up of international speakers we have split the conference into four sessions. On the morning on the 5th of October 2021 the topic will be ‘Mathematics’, followed by an afternoon discussion panel; and on and the afternoon session on the 6th of October 2021 the topic will be ‘Mathematics Education’ followed by an early-evening discussion panel. We plan that pre-recorded talks will be available during the first session each day (these will be pre-released by a few hours). The questions and discussion sessions each day will be hosted in real time.

We are requesting that all talks are accessible to the wide audience that we hope to attract.

Accepted Speakers

• Jude Kong (York University, Canada)
• Anotida Madzvamuse (University of Sussex, UK)
• Dr Juliet Ojiako (Loughborough University, UK)
• Susan Okereke (Do the Maths Thing)
• Yohance Osborne (University College London, UK)
• Mamokgethi Phakeng (University of Cape Town, South Africa)
• Maurine Songa (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)
• Erica Walker (Columbia University, USA)

Watch along

Our colleagues in the PRISM network at Exeter University are organising a “watch along” where they will be playing the conference in a large room for staff and students to attend together all at once and have the opportunity for discussions provoked by the conference. We think that’s an absolutely great idea and would really encourage other institutions to have a go at organising one too!

Organising Committee

• Nira Chamberlain – IMA
• Frank Neumann – LMS
• Troy Astarte – BSHM
• Snezana Lawrence – BSHM and IMA
• Liam Holligan – ICMS
• Christie Marr – INI
• Angela Tabiri – AIMS Ghana
• John Johnston – LMS
• Dawn Wasley – ICMS
• David Youdan – IMA
• Elizabeth Fisher – LMS
• Natalya Silcott – Harrow School
• Chris Pritchard – MA
• Tannimola Liverpool – University of Bristol

Further information

For general conference queries please contact the Conferences Team (conferences@ima.org.uk) Tel: +44 (0) 1702 354 020 Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, Catherine Richards House, 16 Nelson Street, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS1 1EF, UK.

Registration