There are numerous applications for mathematics across the space, Earth observation and security sectors. The Newton Gateway to Mathematics has strong links with industry stakeholders and researchers and is involved in a number of ongoing projects across these areas.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming events will be available here.
Previous Activities
Mathematics Workshop: Theory of Electromagnetic Activity, 7th - 9th February 2024.
- This 3-day residential workshop aimed to bring experts from diverse fields to share knowledge and address key challenges in electromagnetic activities as part of the wider EME Hub programme of work, and to spur new avenues of research, pilot studies and networking activities across the spectrum.
Machine Learning: Portents and Possibilities, 8th November 2023.
- This Open for Business event is part of an INI programme on Black holes: bridges between number theory and holographic quantum information and will take place within the workshop on Machine learning toolkits and integrability techniques in gravity.
Mathematical Challenges in Defence and Security, 15th -16th March 2023.
- This two-day event presented 6 problem statements developed by Dstl that have been taken forward as part of a Dstl funding call for short project delivery later in the year.
New Mathematical Challenges in the Electromagnetic Environment This study group ran over three days and followed on from four previous events which took place over the last two years. Due to current COVID guidelines this event was in a virtual format.
The Future of Mathematical Challenges in the Electromagnetic Environment took place from 27th - 28th July 2021. This workshop followed on from three previous events which took place over the last 18 months. It ran in a hybrid format - with some delegates joining in person and others remotely.
Unlocking Data Streams on 16th March 2021 highlighed a number of exciting research activities and outlined some of the successful collaborations within the DataSıg Programme – which looks to address this key challenge of data science, to better understand multimodal data streams.
Sequential streams of information are pervasive; things happen and are recorded. These streams can be regular with all channels updating at once like sound. Alternatively, channels can update one at a time and maybe not at all, as things happen. An example of this is an electronic health record – which might capture hospital admission, a blood test, or perhaps a continuing ECG measurement. Managing this heterogeneous stream of data is a challenge. Often there is important information in the order of events that links the channel behaviour together.
The Programme sought to further develop signature-based mathematical tools for dealing with complex streamed data, and connect with partners who have the capability and the challenges to benefit from and achieve significant outcomes with the methodology. Details about the event are on the webpage.
Privacy Enhancing Technologies in Practice took place as a series of short workshops- starting on 19th November 2020 and finishing on 19th January 2021.
Companies have been repeatedly told that data is one of their most valuable commodities, but realising the full value of that data may require re-mixing, comparison, or computation against data held by others. Unfortunately, sharing data is one of the hardest things for companies to do, because of the perceived commercial and legal risks. Even within a single organisation, sharing data can be considered to create large security or privacy risks. Developed with academic partners and in collaboration with the Digital Catapult, these sessions recognisde the need to help business and industry find effective ways to utilise these new privacy enhancing technologies.
IMA Mathematics 2020 Series Online took place in July. On 30th July, Professor Nigel Smart spoke about Privacy Enhancing Technologies. This linked to Privacy Enhancing Technologies in Prac that will took place on Monday 30th November 2020.
The Future of Distributed Ledger Technology took place on Wednesday 6th November 2019. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), and its numerous potential applications, has gained increased attention in recent years. The UK showed early interest in the technology and through strong research effort is now recognised as a global player.This workshop was a collaboration with GCHQ, the Digital Catapult and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). In recognition of the potential and possibilities of DLT as a technology for both Government and the UK as a whole, it aimed to support appropriate use cases and promote research into scalable DLT. It will also served to bring together stakeholders (researchers and end users) from multiple communities, to help connect people and build closer links and collaborations to strengthen the community.
Advances in Numerical Modelling - Applications of Geometric and Structure Preserving Methods took place on Tuesday 3rd December 2019. Geometric and structure preserving methods are a special class of numerical algorithms used to compute solutions to differential equations that preserve the underlying geometry and structure of the system. The key advantage of these methods is that they are not only computationally fast, but they also improve the accuracy of the computation since they are both quantitatively and qualitatively precise. This workshop showcased recent applications of geometric and structure preserving methods to models of real-world systems, as well as highlighted where advances in these types of numerical methods are most needed.
Industrial Applications of Complex Analysis took place on Wednesday 30th October 2019. It showcased the state of the art in complex analysis methods and highlight their current application in industrial settings, as well as where mathematical advances in this area are most needed. Complex analysis is a branch of mathematics that studies analytical properties of functions of complex variables. It lies on the intersection of several areas of mathematics, both pure and applied, and has important connections to asymptotic, harmonic and numerical analysis.
The programme for the day reflected the breadth of application areas where complex analysis methods are important and included talks representing both academic research and end-user perspectives from a range of different industrial areas. These also highlighted recent advances in complex analysis methods which have the potential to significantly improve a number of areas including understanding of aeroacoustics, medical imaging methods, tissue engineering approaches and fluid dynamics.
On Thursday 14th March 2019, Quantum Computing in the Pharmaceutical Industry took place in collaboration with the Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network. The past two years have seen rapid advances in building scalable quantum computers. It is now widely expected that a device that cannot be simulated by any classical computer (so-called ‘quantum computational supremacy’) will emerge in 2019. The prospect of a relatively near-term device capable of a quantum advantage has sparked a huge amount of excitement in academia, industry and government funding.The workshop brought together experts in quantum computing, the pharmaceutical industry and (classical) computational methods to discuss if this is realistic and explore other potential applications in the pharmaceutical industry.
On Tuesday 27th November 2018, Understanding Multi-Modal Data for Social and Human Behaviour took place in Cambridge. In an era of data deluge - sensors, cameras, computers and smart phones capture and store an unending torrent of data about human activity. The data is high-dimensional, sequential, complex, heterogeneous and multimodal in nature; but the sample size is woefully small in comparison. Real benefits to many areas of modern society arise if one can analyse, model and predict different aspects of social and human behaviours. Techniques, such as those offered by rough paths theory, increase the range of potential successes to include recognising human actions and understanding changing facial expressions.This workshop aimed to increase awareness of what is possible, whether it be better mitigation of risks, management of outcomes, or supporting individuals in their daily lives, across the spectrum of social and human behaviour.
Novel Computational Paradigms took place on Tuesday 30th October 2018 & Wednesday 31st October 2018 delivered by the TGM in partnership with GCHQ. Many of today’s interesting problems stem from the ability to generate and process large volumes of data, such as for instance, intelligent power grids and smart cities that form part of the Internet of Things. But the ability to work with all this data has to match the demand and if the speed of processing power is to continue to develop to meet such demands, new forms of computing need to be found; new algorithms need to be developed to make efficient use of these new forms of computation; and new mathematical challenges arise in the design and analysis of these new algorithms.
The workshop aimed to investigate potential next-generation advances in novel computational paradigms and bring together relevant stakeholders from across various UK research communities and industry. It is hoped that this activity will help to build closer links and collaborations and aid the establishment of a joined up multi-disciplinary UK community for this area.
On 6th December 2017, the TGM delivered Mathematics of Imaging and Vision as part of the INI Progarmme on Variational Methods and Effective Algorithms for Imaging and Vision. Imaging and vision is highly multidisciplinary – spanning mathematics, engineering, machine learning, computer vision and machine vision. There are numerous applications for this science in sectors such as medical imaging, security, geoscience, environment, food, manufacturing, agriculture, films, art and archeology.Talks from academics and end-users as well as discussions, explored the challenges as well as the new horizons in theory, models, techniques and applications of mathematical imaging and vision.
On 19th July 2017, the TGM delivered a one day workshop Big Proof - Challenges in Industry and Research at the Alan Turing Institute in London. The aim of the workshop was to promote discussion around the area of big proof and formal verification, and the challenges from academic and industry perspectives. A key aspect of the workshop was to encourage links between academics and industry and allowed both parties to further understand the others’ needs. Therefore, as well as highlighting state-of-the-art mathematics for formal proof systems, talks also covered end user challenges and experiences.
The TGM hosted a one day workshop New Directions in Cryptography and Applications to Cyber-Security on Wednesday 15th June 2016. This one day workshop aimed to engage with the UK Research community to discuss broad research directions in cryptographic technologies and the underlying mathematics that underpins them.
Supported by BAE Systems and working with Microsoft and the University of Cambridge, the TGM hosted a Challenges in Dynamic Imaging Data event in June 2015, which explored the processing and analysis of time-varying data. It highlighted various challenges, such as how to manage time varying aspects in order to understand and analyse dynamic image contents, detect objects, track and analyse their behaviours so that what is happening in a sequence of images can be better understood. Each of the three days featured a different industry challenge, with a security focus on day two. BAE Systems continue to work with key partners in industry and academia to actively address challenges which were identified in this workshop.
In the area of Cyber Security, the TGM worked with GCHQ to develop and broaden the Post-Quantum Research community in the UK. Activities have included two workshops - in May 2014 and September 2014. The programme of work also includes research and network building in order to stimulate future development of classical cryptographic security into schemes that are resistant to potential quantum computer attack in the future. A key aim is to develop more capacity in the UK research community and the TGM hopes to undertake further activities in this area in future.
The TGM has been a co-organiser for an initiative which saw the formation of a working group in the area of Optimisation for Space Engineering. This aims at providing space companies, universities, research institutes and organisations with a forum of excellence in the area of optimisation in space engineering. In partnership with the European Space Agency, Airbus Space and Defence and the Universities of Southampton, Birmingham, Bremen and Strathclyde. The TGM devloped and delivered three, 2-day events.
The 1st UK workshop on Optimisation in Space Engineering (OSE) was held on 5th & 6 th November 2013 in Birmingham with one of the outputs being the formation of a national working group. This event was jointly organised by the TGM, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the University of Southampton, and was hosted by the University of Birmingham. In this first meeting, participants shared their latest engineering problems and proposed solutions so as to promote the creation and exchange of ideas and the identification of new trends and required developments.
A 2nd OSE Workshop took forward outputs generated from the first workshop, such as identified challenges and issues. The event sought to address these through a series of talks, discussion and break-out group type activities. Feedback indicated the value of engagement between academia and industry, especially at an early stage of a problem formation. Additionally, a number of example space engineering optimisation problems were investigated and the solutions compared and contrasted to gain understanding of the efficiency of the various techniques.
A 3rd workshop on Optimisation in Space Engineering, took place on 17th - 18th September 2015 in Glasgow. Participants were invited to share their latest engineering problems and proposed solutions, so as to promote the creation and exchange of ideas and the identification of new trends and required developments. The event was attended by over 35 participants from the UK and also from across Europe.
