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º£½ÇÖ±²¥ mathematician invited to conduct research at top European institution

A senior º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Mathematics lecturer has been invited to spend the summer at a prestigious Parisian research institution.

Dr Sven-Ake Wegner, of the School of Science, Engineering & Design, will be conducting research at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) between July and September. Sven, who joined º£½ÇÖ±²¥ in 2018, will be focusing on the 'hearts of karoubian categories', a project covering the areas of homological algebra and functional analysis.

IHÉS was founded in 1958 by the businessman Léon Motchane, the physicist Robert Oppenheimer and the mathematician Jean Dieudonné, and it has since become a leading institute for fundamental research.

Inspired by the famous Institute for Advances Study at Princeton, its aim is to provide a place of total freedom of research in the areas of mathematics, theoretical physics and related sciences.

IHÉS permanent faculty members have won numerous international prizes over the years, including seven Fields medals, two Abel prizes and one Einstein medal.

Sven said: ‘It is a big honour to be invited to such a renowned place, and to meet all the famous people working here. It is very inspiring.’

IHÉS invites around 200 mathematicians and theoretical physicists to be guest researchers each year.

The so-called 'chercheur invités' are based at Bures-sur-Yvette in the south of Paris, and are able to work full-time on a fundamental research topic of their choice.

Sven’s research will be based on his previous collaboration with scientists from the University of Trier (Germany) and the Sobolev Institute of Mathematics at Novosibirsk (Russia).

Given its complex nature, the project will require absolute focus and the IHÉS opportunity will provide Sven with the perfect opportunity to develop his work.

He added: ‘Being here for two months is a unique opportunity, and I will be able to concentrate fully on my work. There are blackboards everywhere, even outside in the garden, and it will be terrific to talk mathematics all day long.’

• Research
• Mathematics
• School of Science
• Engineering & Design