Creating a research-friendly environment

Dr Bas Lemmens is the SMSAS Director of Research and is looking to extend the School’s research profile. ‘I want to create an environment where people have the time to pursue their research and feel it is an intrinsic part of their work, so that our research community continues to develop.

‘Even with the recent increase in competition for funding, the School is scoring well in terms of gaining research grants from the EPSRC both for pure and applied maths as well as projects in statistics and probability. We want to increase our grant portfolio and one of the ways we can do that is to work collaboratively with researchers in other fields. For example, Big Data is currently a theme where research is needed and I think as mathematicians we could work with those in computing or other data intensive disciplines to increase our understanding of this field. As a School, we are building relationships with other schools and departments across the University, as well as maintaining links with external organisations.’

We are always happy to hear from post-doctoral researchers interested in applying for fellowships and potential PhD candidates. It’s an exciting time to join our School; we offer a broad spectrum of research interests in mathematics and in statistics and have a young team, so there’s lots of modern mathematics with people working on current issues. We provide extensive support for post-doctoral fellowship applicants to assist them with their grant application.

As a PhD student, you are supervised by experts and are given the time to flourish at your own pace. Research students have their own postgraduate rooms and PhD seminars, which help to create a strong sense of community and the School runs more subject-oriented seminars, so there are plenty of chances to present and discuss your work. There are also opportunities to gain teaching experience by supporting our undergraduate students in ‘problem classes’. In addition, our membership of the London Taught Course Centre, means you can take advanced courses in your research area to increase your expertise.

As Director of Research, Bas is interested in talking to post-doctoral researchers and prospective PhD students who want to work in the areas of research covered in the School. So, if you are thinking of joining the School please contact either Bas or, if there is a particular member of staff you are interested in working with, speak to them directly.

We look forward to hearing from you.