From Prime Numbers to Random Networks: Two perspectives on researching Pure Mathematics

International Day of Mathematics 2024 Public Lectures at UNSW Sydney

Join us for these special lectures by two Pure Mathematicians at UNSW Sydney. There will be time for audience Q&A with the speakers, and we will host a networking reception following the talks with finger food and refreshments. 

Christian Bagshaw is a PhD student in Pure Mathematics at UNSW. His research is focused in an area of mathematics called number theory, which studies (among other things) the properties of prime numbers. Christian has won multiple awards for his presentations. 

Catherine Greenhill is a Professor in the UNSW School of Mathematics and Statistics. Her research involves discrete mathematics, theoretical computer science and probability. She was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2022.

Puzzles and patterns in the primes - Christian Bagshaw

For thousands of years, mathematicians have been fascinated by prime numbers. As far as our records indicate, it was Euclid who first provided a proof that there are infinitely many primes. This curiosity has continued into the modern age, leading to more nuanced questions. Are there infinitely many primes that end with the digit 7? What about pairs of primes that differ by two - how many of those are there? Can every even number be written as the sum of two primes? This talk will touch on some of these fascinating problems and provide a glimpse into what a number theory PhD student works on all day.

Random networks, random walks and other stories - Catherine Greenhill

We live in a world filled with large, complex networks, such as social networks, contact networks or transport networks. A network consists some objects (e.g. people, cities) and the relationships between them (e.g. friendship, train lines). Researchers who study a particular real-world network often want to compare their network to a family of networks that share similar properties. We can do this using random networks, where the connections are chosen randomly in some way. I will talk about some of my research on random networks, and the (random?) choices that led me here.

Location

The lectures will be presented in Room 4082/4083 on level 4 of the Anita B. Lawrence Centre.
Finger food and refreshments will be hosted at our networking reception following the talks, in Anita B. Lawrence Centre Room 3082 on level 3. 

See the UNSW campus map. The School of Mathematics and Statistics is accessible via two entrances of the building: The Centre Wing or East Wing (map ref: H15). 
*Please note that the School of Mathematics and Statistics is not accessible via the West Wing of the Anita B. Lawrence Centre building. 

About the speakers

Christian Bagshaw is a PhD student in Pure Mathematics at UNSW. He earned a BSc (first-class honours) in Pure Mathematics from the University of Calgary, where he received multiple university medals upon graduation. His research is focused in an area of mathematics called number theory, which studies (among other things) the properties of prime numbers. Christian has won several awards for his presentations, such as the Best Student Talk at NTDU 2022 and the Most Outstanding Talk in Pure Mathematics at the 2023 UNSW Mathematics and Statistics Postgraduate Conference. He also earned an Honourable Mention for the B.H. Neumann Prize for the Best Student Talk at AustMS 2022.

Catherine Greenhill started her academic career as an undergraduate at the University of Queensland, before obtaining her doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1992. She held research positions at the University of Leeds and at the University of Melbourne, then joined UNSW in 2002. Today she is a Professor and head of the Combinatorics group in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, UNSW Sydney. Catherine's research involves discrete mathematics, theoretical computer science and probability. She was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2022.