Do The Maths
Women, Empowerment, Opportunity
Do The Maths
(formerly Girls Do the Maths)
The School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW runs an annual series of free, one-day workshops for young women in their final years of high school studies (years 10 - 12). The aim of the workshop series is to encourage young women 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.
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
2023 events
Inviting Year 10-12 students to attend our 2023 Do The Maths - Women, Empowerment, Opportunity Workshop.
Registration
The Expression of Interest for this event has closed on Friday 31 March 2023. We are in the process of contacting the interested schools to confirm registration details.
On-campus event
The on-campus event will be held on Wednesday 7 June 2023, 8:45am to 3:15pm at UNSW Roundhouse.
The program will include maths talks, a hands-on activity, carnival booths, a campus tour, degree and scholarship information, and a Q&A.
Morning tea and lunch will be provided.
Online event
The online event will be held on Friday 9 June 2023, 9am to 12noon.
Students will connect via Zoom with their own devices (laptops or large tablets) from a quiet space organised by their schools.
The program will include maths talks, a DESMOS activity, degree and scholarship information, and a Q&A.
Please note that the 61st UNSW School Mathematics Competition also takes place on Wednesday 7 June.
If your school is interested in both the Mathematics Competition and the Do the Maths on-campus event on 7 June, please contact us at <DoTheMaths@unsw.edu.au> so that we can make an alternative arrangement for the Mathematics Competition for your school.
Inge Koch
2023 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador
Inge Koch - Associate Dean, Mathematical Sciences, RMIT
Professor Inge Koch will deliver a presentation at the Do The Maths events.
Inge Koch is a Statistician with research interests in the analysis of high-dimensional and functional data, ranging from new methodology to cross-disciplinary collaborations including biologists and medical experts. She has a strong background in pure and applied mathematics and experience in industry and the CSIRO. Since the completion of her PhD in statistics at the Australian National University, she taught statistics at the University of Newcastle, and UNSW Sydney. In 2009, she became Associate Professor in Statistics at the University of Adelaide, and, in 2019, she moved to UWA as Professor of Statistics and Data Science. Inge joined RMIT as Associate Dean, Mathematical Sciences in February 2023.
Throughout her career, Inge has been a champion for mathematics and gender diversity in mathematics, passionate about encouraging young women to study mathematics at all levels and to follow careers that use maths skills. She is a co-founder of the Girls Do The Maths initiative at UNSW, a program that began in 2004 and still flourishes today. She brought the same commitment to diversity to the University of Adelaide through her involvement with the Women in Mathematics Workshops. In 2015, she became Executive Director of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) and its ChooseMaths Program, aiming to change public perception of mathematics in order to improve participation, particularly of girls and women, in mathematics across Australia. At UWA she combined this interest with developing statistical data science at all levels ranging from a first year new data science course to research forums involving staff from all faculties. She has been part of the National Review panel for Data Science, jointly organised by AMSI and the SSA, and is a member of the AMSI board.
Inge has great expectations for her new position at RMIT; combining her background in gender diversity in mathematics, her involvement in data science with mathematics education at all levels, research and collaborations across the STEM college and beyond.
Public Lecture - Thursday 8 June
Professor Inge Koch will also present a public lecture on Thursday 8 June at UNSW, "Mathematics and Gender: Nature versus Nurture".
See the Public Lecture event page below for all details.
2022 events
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 participants 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 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' which showcases the work of women mathematicians around the world.
The Australian exhibit features 16 women mathematicians from Australia.
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.