Mathematics University of Essex

Overview

Possible areas of research include algebra, combinatorics, computational mathematics, chaos theory, dynamical systems, differential equations and numerical analysis. If you're interested in studying with us, please get in touch with the School to discuss other potential research areas.

If you successfully complete a research degree in Mathematics offered by University of Essex, you will be well qualified for careers in scientific research, industry, finance, and academia.

The staff are strongly committed to research and teaching. They have published several well-regarded text books and are world leaders in their individual specialisms, with their papers appearing in learned journals such as: Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society, Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, Advances in Mathematics, Mathematische Zeitschrift and Israel Journal of Mathematics.

The School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science is genuinely innovative and student-focused. The research groups are working on a broad range of collaborative areas tackling real-world issues. Here are a few examples:

• The data scientists carefully consider how not to lie, and how not to get lied to with data. Interpreting data correctly is especially important because much of the data science research is applied directly or indirectly to social policies, including health, care and education.

• We do practical research with financial data (for example, assessing the risk of collapse of the UK's banking system) as well as theoretical research in financial instruments such as insurance policies or asset portfolios.

• We also research how physical processes develop in time and space. Applications of this range from modelling epilepsy to modelling electronic cables.

• The optimisation experts work out how to do the same job with less resource, or how to do more with the same resource.

• The pure maths group are currently working on two new funded projects entitled “The Calabi problem for smooth Fano threefolds” and “Stability of Brunn-Minkowski inequalities and Minkowski type problems for nonlinear capacity”.

• We also do research into mathematical education and use exciting technologies such as electroencephalography or eye tracking to measure exactly what a learner is feeling. The research aims to encourage the implementation of ‘the four Cs' of modern education, which are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

Your future

Many of the former PhD students have gone on to work as academics in prominent institutions across the world, such as the University of Cambridge, University of Nottingham and many other international universities. Some have also remained at the University of Essex, working as postdoctoral research fellows, research impact officers, or lecturers.

Other graduates have joined organisations like the Met Office, the Ministry of Defence, and companies based in the City of London. There is a high demand for those with a numerate background in all sectors of the economy, so the graduates are sought after in the UK and abroad.