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11 December 2020
Date and time: 2.00 to 3.00 pm on Friday 11th December 2020
Our 5th Christmas Lecture features Dr Yolanda Ohene and Dr Colin Wright, each giving an accessible talk on different mathematical topics.
About this Event
For our 2020 Christmas Lecture, we have not one but two fantastic speakers giving short talks on two totally different, but equally fascinating, mathematical topics. Read on to find out more about both!
'Science, Statistics & SARS-CoV-2' by Dr Yolanda Ohene
During the first lockdown, Yolanda volunteered at a Covid-19 testing centre. Yolanda will be talking about her experience of this in a relevant but fun way, covering the science behind testing for the virus, including exponential models, uncertainties, population and sample sizes.
About Yolanda:
Yolanda Ohene was an undergraduate at Imperial College. Her third year took her to France where she did a Master's research project. The project used an atomic force microscope - a tool that feels the surface of tiny objects – to study genetically modified bacteria which over-produce fats and are used as a biofuel.
Yolanda subsequently studied for a PhD in Physics at University College London, where she researched new techniques to image the brain.
Yolanda enjoys communicating science at science festivals, school talks and comedy nights. She has featured on the BBC Tomorrow's World Live, given talks at Cheltenham Science Festival and spoken in assemblies across schools in London. Yolanda grew up in Derbyshire, and if she's not talking science, you’ll find her dancing somewhere... anywhere!
Yolanda currently works at the University of Manchester School of Biological Sciences, in the Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology.
'Colours can Compute' by Dr Colin Wright
Suppose I give you a network and ask you to colour the nodes according to some incredibly simple rules. Whether that can be done, efficiently, in all possible cases, is an outstanding problem in mathematics, computer science, management, operations research, and more. In this talk, we shall see why, and look at some applications.
About Colin:
Colin Wright graduated in 1982 from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, with a BSc(Hons) in Pure Mathematics, and went on to receive his doctorate in 1990 from Cambridge University, England. While there, he also learned how to fire-breathe, unicycle, juggle and ballroom dance.
Since then, he's worked as a research mathematician, a computer programmer, an electronics hardware designer, and head of research and development for a company that produces equipment to do the maritime equivalent of Air Traffic Control.
He now spends most of his time giving presentations all over the world on why mathematics can be exciting, intriguing, and not at all what most people expect.
Registration and further details via Eventbrite website.