In the media

JULY: Jake Olivier was interviewed for an article in the Daily Mail about golf cart safety. 

Thomas Britz wrote a piece for The Conversation charting the history of the Golden Ratio and exploring why its common application to determine physical beauty is redundant.

MAY: Daniel Mansfield featured on Dr Karl's Shirtloads of Science podcast, discussing the history of maths and ancient Babylonian tablets.

Jake Olivier was interviewed for ABC Newcastle about the impact of a reduced speed zone in the local area, in terms of decreasing the prospect of a fatality following a motor vehicle accident; he has done research via a systematic review and meta-analysis that supports the decision.

MARCH: Amandine Schaeffer wrote for The Conversation, investigating what brings bluebottles to shore and revealing that the orientation of the beach and the direction of the wind both have a part to play.

Shane Keating's piece for The Conversation explores how innovative design and smart satellites change the way we look at our planet - and beyond.

FEBRUARY: Taimoor Sohail and Jan Zika's study published in Nature, which provided a new framework for understanding freshwater transport and highlighted the impact of climate change on the global water cycle, attracted a broad range of media attention including interviews with ABC and articles in titles internationally. 

Jake Olivier was interviewed by A Current Affair about the odds of winning the $120 million Powerball jackpot

Shane Keating wrote for The Conversation about the mysterious science of the sport of curling, The slippery science of Olympic curling: we still don’t know how it works.

JANUARY: Jake Olivier was interviewed by ABC radio about the contributing factors to NSW's decline in road toll deaths. 

DECEMBER: Shane Keating wrote a piece for The Conversation exploring the science of fluids, Slip, slop, slurp! The surprising science of sunscreen, sand and ice cream.

NOVEMBER: Daniel Mansfield was featured on BBC REEL, discussing the maths of ancient Babylonia. 

Fedor Sukochev was announced as the top researcher in the field of Mathematical Analysis in The Australian’s Research Magazine, which publishes an annual list of the top researchers and best research institutions across 250 individual fields of research nationally. 

In addition to Professor Sukochev's top researcher ranking, UNSW Mathematics and Statistics topped the list for the fields of Algebra and Computational Mathematics.

AUGUST: Daniel Mansfield's research discovery revealing that ancient clay tablet Si.427 could be the oldest known example of applied geometry sparked a vast amount of global mainstream media and social media attention. The story featured in outlets such as The Guardian, The New York Times, Daily Mail, New Scientist, The Economist, ABC, SMH, The Age and many more. 

JULY: Rohitash Chandra co-authored an article in The Conversation, which focuses on recent innovative research to discover copper deposits in order to supply the growing renewable energy technology industries.

APRIL: Jake Olivier was interviewed by ABC Radio Sydney about unmarked speed camera vehicles and recent changes to the speed limit in the Moore Park area. There has been a general push for 40km/h zones or less in areas with a fair amount of pedestrian or cycling traffic. A paper published by Prof Olivier in 2019 estimated the probability of a pedestrian fatality given an impact speed; it works out to about five per cent probability at 30km/h. The paper can be found here: The relationship between impact speed and the probability of pedestrian fatality during a vehicle-pedestrian crash: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Shane Keating and Moninya Roughan wrote a piece for The Conversation about the role of ocean currents and the fascinating things they can reveal. 

OCTOBER: Thomas Britz was interviewed on ABC Melbourne's 'Breakfast with Sammy J' programme, discussing the size of a trillion [dollars].

AUGUST: Daniel Mansfield penned a piece for The Conversation, addressing a viral TikTok video which raised questions about the origin and existence of maths. He was also interviewed on ABC radio about the viral video. 

Head of Statistics, Jake Olivier, was quoted in an SMH article about speed's impact on fatalities and serious injuries in vehicle crashes. 

JULY: Thomas Britz was interviewed about the probability of winning the lottery on ABC Radio Hobart (interview starts at 40:00)

JUNE: Jake Olivier contributed to an ABC News article analysing the accuracy of Australia's coronavirus figures. 

MAY: Thomas Britz was interviewed for a piece, The mystique of mathematics: 5 beautiful maths phenomena, for the UNSW Newsroom. The article generated some additional media interest: it was also picked up by Cosmos Magazine, was Tweeted by The Mathematical Association of America, and Dr Britz was interviewed on ABC Radio Hobart (interview starts at 34:47). 

JANUARY: Shane Keating wrote a piece for The Conversation about the science of ocean waves.

DECEMBER: Jake Olivier spoke to SMH about pedestrian and road safety and the role of increased speeds. 

OCTOBER: Jake Olivier analysed data for ABC's Fact Check to help investigate the credibility of a claim by former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce that the Nationals represent Australia's poorest electorates.

MAY: In the wake of the recent Federal election and many misleading opinion polls, Scott Sisson co-authored a piece in The Conversation about improving poll design and thus their accuracy. 

APRIL: A recent paper by David Harvey that describes a new method for multiplying together huge numbers attracted a broad range of media interest, garnering mentions in publications and outlets such as New Scientist, Science News, ABC, Triple J and BBC World Service. 

NOVEMBER: Our Head of Statistics, Scott Sisson, appeared in an Australian Academy of Science video discussing the reliability of opinion polls. 

AUGUST: Jake Olivier was interviewed for a Channel 10 news bulletin about the likelihood of winning the record $100 million Powerball jackpot. 

JULY: Shane Keating and Darryn Waugh wrote a piece for The Conversation in the lead-up to Prof Waugh's public lecture on 30 July at UNSW, The enduring impact of the ozone hole on climate.

Jake Olivier was interviewed for a piece for ABC Fact Check, 'Are ABC employees or journalists five times more likely to vote for the Greens than the general population?'. 

JUNE: Scott Sisson co-authored two articles for The Conversation, 'A survey needs to involve how many people before I'm convinced?' and 'Could Australia win, really? The science of predicting the World Cup champion'.

APRIL: Chris Tisdell was interviewed for an article in news.com.au discussing new research which shows that one in three Australians are unhappy with their choice of university or university degree.

Thomas Britz was interviewed by local radio station radio TLC FM on the work and experience of being a mathematician.

MARCH: Jake Olivier spoke to Triple J Hack for an article about the effect of helmet laws and bicycle rider participation. The article cited his meta analysis on helmet usage, which concluded that helmets reduce the chances of a serious head injury by nearly 70 per cent and of fatal head injuries by 65 per cent.

A/Prof Olivier was also interviewed on 15 March on Focus with Cassie McCullagh (ABC Radio). 

JANUARY: When Trevor McDougall received a Companion of the Order of Australia, the news appeared across several news media outlets, including SBS which ran a feature about Prof McDougall.