Women in Mathematics and Statistics

The School has hosted our annual Do The Maths workshops (formerly Girls Do the Maths) for female high school students since 2005. The workshop takes place annually. Our events in 2023, 2022 and 2021 were run in dual modality - with face-to-face and online versions. 

We have also hosted mini Do the Maths workshops for groups of female high school students as part of the L'Oreal Girls in Science Forum.

We established the UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador in 2016 as part of our Do the Maths program. The main role of these female academics is to deliver an inspiring talk at the Do the Maths workshop about their careers and area of mathematics. They are also invited to present a public lecture to a wider audience (university students, staff members, school teachers, members of the public, etc.) about their research. See below for details of our current and past ambassadors:

Our 2023 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador was Professor Inge Koch, a Statistician with research interests in the analysis of high-dimensional and functional data. Professor Koch is Associate Dean, Mathematical Sciences, at RMIT. She presented a talk, Mathematics, Statistics, and Where it Can Lead to at our campus and online Do The Maths workshops in June 2023. She also delivered a public lecture, Mathematics and Gender: Nature versus Nurture, at UNSW in June. Professor Koch was one of the co-founders of our Do The Maths program. 

Our 2022 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador was A/Prof Hamideh Anjomshoa, a senior applied research scientist who is an Enterprise Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She presented her talk Mathematical Modelling in Scheduling and Planning in Real-World Problems at both the face-to-face and online 2022 Girls Do the Maths events. 

Our 2021 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador was Dr Virginia Wheway, who is Vice President, Data and Analytics, at Koala. Dr Wheway, an influential data-focused executive with diverse skills and experience across numerous industries, delivered presentations about her career at both the face-to-face and online 2021 Girls Do the Maths events. 

In September 2019, our UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador Professor Kate Smith-Miles from the University of Melbourne delivered a talk about her career at our Girls Do the Maths workshop, plus a public lecture at UNSW, How maths can reveal the secrets in your face... No more lying about your age!. 

In May 2018, Professor Cheryl Praeger from the University of WA presented a talk about the power of mathematics at Girls Do the Maths, plus a public lecture at UNSW called Maths as a Superpower. She was presented with the 2018 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador Award.

In May 2017, Professor Regina Burachik presented a talk about her personal journey into mathematics at Girls Do the Maths and also delivered a public lecture at UNSW titled Optimization Problems: A Gentle Tour. She was presented with the 2017 UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador Award. 

In May 2016, School alumnus and University of Georgia Professor Lynne Billard spoke at Girls Do the Maths and also presented a public lecture at UNSW on The Role of Mathematics and Statistics in Science and Society. She was presented with the inaugural UNSW Women in Mathematics and Statistics Ambassador Award by then-Vice Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs.

In October 2016, Executive Director of AMSI's Choose Maths, Inge Koch, delivered a talk at UNSW titled An Australian Approach Towards Increasing the Participation of Women in Mathematics.

In May 2014, we were delighted to host mathematical historian Prof. Karen Parshall from the University of Virginia, who gave a public lecture on Tuesday 27 May 2014, entitled Becoming a Mathematician in Turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century America: The Women's Story.

Women in Mathematics and Statistics lunches for female staff and students of the School are held at least twice a year. In May 2019, we celebrated the inaugural International Women in Mathematics Day, and have continued with staff social gatherings on this date. 

With the introduction of our Bachelor of Data Science and Decisions in 2017, we established an Ambassador program for women enrolled in the degree. The Ambassadors are involved in outreach and publicity activities within the School, and also play an active role in our Do the Maths workshops.

The School offers undergraduate scholarships for female mathematics majors and the Women in Mathematics and Statistics Scholarship for female students entering an Honours year in mathematics. We also award Women in Mathematics and Statistics prizes for high performance by female students at each undergraduate level.

For more information, contact DoTheMaths@unsw.edu.au