The School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW runs an annual series of free, one-day workshops for female students in their final years of high school studies (years 10 - 12). The aim of the workshop series is to encourage female students to consider mathematics as a career.
We understand that the world faces many challenges - climate change, population growth and poverty, national and global security, and finding sustainable food and energy supplies to name a few. The study and application of maths plays an important role in all of these areas.
Girls Do the Maths has been created to encourage girls to see how they can make a difference to the betterment of the world and people's lives by studying and working in many different fields using maths and stats.
We welcome you to consider attending our workshops, and hope you might consider a future with us as a university student.
During the workshop, invited speakers talk about their careers, and we host sessions on the practicalities of university life, including information about our courses and degrees, applying for scholarships, and programs for talented students. These are complemented by a tour of the UNSW Kensington campus, including a visit to an undergraduate mathematics lecture, and hands-on maths activities. Lunch and refreshments are provided.
For more info, please contact: dothemaths@unsw.edu.au
2022 event
The 2022 campus event was held on Thursday 23 June at the UNSW Roundhouse, and the online event the following day, Friday 24 June.
We hosted 300 students from 20 schools across Sydney at the campus event. They participated in maths activities, heard presentations, viewed the Australian Women in Maths exhibit, went on campus tours, and partipated in a Q&A with current UNSW students as panellists.
The online event, attended by 100 high school students, was MCed by our Visiting Teaching Fellow Karen Man over Zoom. She led a schedule which included presentations, maths activities and a panel discussion.
For more about the 2022 events, see the info and schedule below, and read the news item.
2022 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador
Hamideh Anjomshoa – Applied Maths + Data Analytics
"Hello, I’m Hamideh. I’m an applied research scientist and I specialise in designing large-scale optimisation and data science solutions across different industries like mining and healthcare. I’m very interested in systems that make modern life possible. I use mathematical modelling, mixed integer programming, business analytics and optimisation, data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and health analytics to better understand how we create and use information in our jobs and lives."
Hamideh presented at both our on-campus and online events in 2022.
Schedule for on-campus event, 23 June 2022
| 8:45am | Arrival & Registration |
| 9:15am |
Attila Brungs, Vice Chancellor Scott Kable, Dean of Science Adelle Coster, Head of School, Mathematics & Statistics |
| 9:40am | Mathematical Modelling in Scheduling and Planning in Real-World Problems Hamideh Anjomshoa, 2022 UNSW Women in Maths & Stats Ambassador |
| 10:00 |
Daniel Mansfield, Maths & Stats UNSW |
| 10:10 |
Alessandro Ottazzi, Maths & Stats UNSW |
| 10.30 | Morning tea and Women in Maths Exhibition |
| 11:00 |
Presented by Sean Gardiner, Maths & Stats UNSW |
| 12:20 |
Amandine Schaeffer, Maths & Stats UNSW |
| 12:30 |
Anna Romanov, Maths & Stats UNSW |
| 12:40 | Lunch |
| 1:40 |
Presented by Diana Combe, Maths & Stats UNSW |
| 2:40 |
Led by Catherine Greenhill, Maths & Stats UNSW |
| 3:00 – 3:15 | Feedback survey for participants |
Schedule for online event, 24 June 2022
| 9:15 | Meet & Greet on Zoom |
| 9:30 | Welcome, Adelle Coster, Head of School, Mathematics & Statistics |
| 9:45 | Mathematical Modelling in Scheduling and Planning in Real-World Problems Hamideh Anjomshoa, 2022 UNSW Women in Maths & Stats Ambassador |
| 10:05 | Counting Conundrums Presented by Anna Romanov, Maths & Stats UNSW |
| 11:30 | Q&A Panel Discussion Led by Anna Romanov |
| 11:50 | Survey & Closing |
2021 event
The 2021 on-campus workshop took place on Thursday 10 June at UNSW, and a specially curated online version of the event was held on Thursday 17 June. We hosted a record number of particpants this year. Watch this highlights video from the Girls Do the Maths workshop at the UNSW Roundhouse on 10 June 2021.
See our Girls Do the Maths 2021 YouTube playlist to view several sessions and presentations from the 2021 event. These include an overview of our programs and courses by Dr John Steele, and careers talks by our academic staff.
You can read the article about the 2021 event here.
2021 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador
The on-campus and online events featured a presentation by our 2021 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador, Virginia Wheway. Virginia's talk was titled "What is all this Data Science hype about?".
Virginia Wheway is Vice President, Data and Analytics at Koala. She is an accomplished and influential data-focused executive with diverse skills and experience across numerous industries; including aviation, mining, manufacturing, government, medical research and finance. We were thrilled for her to join us at the 2021 Girls Do the Maths events.
Watch Dr Wheway's presentation from the on-campus event below.
Australian Women of Mathematics Exhibition
We were excited to showcase the brand new Australian Women of Mathematics exhibition at the events.
The Australian Women of Mathematics project started as an extension of a touring exhibit entitled 'Women of Mathematics throughout Europe. A gallery of portraits' and showcases the work of women mathematicians around the world.
Past events
2021 event program
Our 2020 workshop was cancelled due to COVID-19.
The 2019 workshop was held on Friday 20th September 2019 at the Roundhouse, UNSW. Read about two students' experiences of the workshop: The 2011 Girls Do The Maths Scholarship recipient Dorothy Cheung, and Advanced Maths Honours student Michela Castagnone.
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The first Girls Do The Maths workshop was held in 2005. Over the years we have had some great talks from our invited speakers, including:
- Dr Virginia Wheway, Vice President, Data and Analytics, Koala (2021 UNSW Women in Maths + Stats Ambassador)
- Professor Kate Smith-Miles, University of Melbourne (2019 UNSW Women in Maths + Stats Ambassador)
- Professor Cheryl Praeger, University of Western Australia (2018 UNSW Women in Maths + Stats Ambassador)
- A/Prof Regina Burachik, University of South Australia (2017 UNSW Women in Maths + Stats Ambassador)
- Prof Lynne Billard, University of Georgia (2016 UNSW Women in Maths + Stats Ambassador)
- Dr Michelle Dunbar, Radiation Physics Laboratory, Sydney Medical School
- Dr Julia Collins, AMSI
- Gina Papapetrou, Senior Data Strategist, Mercerbell
- Emma Doolan from UNSW and the Kids Cancer Centre
- Dr Patricia Menendez from BOSCAR
- Jessica Egan from Taylor Fry Consulting
- Sharon Wang from MLC - National Australia Bank
- Lisa Alexander from UNSW's Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC)
- Deborah Cromer from UNSW's Centre for Vascular Research
- Katarina Mele from CSIRO
- Leanne Bischof from CSIRO
- Dr Moninya Roughan, an oceanographer from UNSW
- Christine O'Keefe, of CSIRO
- Ann Eyland, of the Law Foundation of NSW
- Clio Cresswell, then a lecturer at UNSW and author of the book "Mathematics and Sex"
- Merryn Horrocks, an electrical engineer who has worked with control systems in areas as disparate as manufacturing and medicine.