EPSRC's Action Plan in response to the International Review of Mathematics

EPSRC has formulated an action plan (PDF 86KB) in response to the broad recommendations of the International Review of Mathematics. This has been shared with the Council for Mathematical Sciences, the International Review panel and the Mathematical Sciences Strategic Advisory Team and reviewed by our Council.

In addition, the challenges and opportunities in specific sub-fields of Mathematical Sciences highlighted by the review have provided a key input into our Shaping Capability decisions.

The International Panel found that overall, mathematical sciences in the UK is excellent on an International scale, with world-leading researchers in every subfield and closely connected application area considered. They found that mathematical sciences researchers participate actively in multidisciplinary collaborations involving important and complex problems, and serve as valuable partners for industry, but even so better links are needed to realise the full potential of UK Mathematical Sciences.

In light of the recommendations:

• We will ensure that our funding provides support that allows excellent researchers to work together wherever they are based and encourages collaborations between institutions, especially in strategically important areas.
• EPSRC believes that open, frank and timely communication between mathematical sciences community and ourselves is indeed extremely important, and we will work with the SAT, learned societies and groups such as HODOMS, as well as directly with universities and researchers, to achieve this.
• Building connections within and beyond Mathematical Sciences is a key part of our strategy and we will seek to achieve this though both grant funding and facilitated activities.
• We will monitor and promote engagement with industry through funding and people exchange, working with other organisations such as the Industrial Mathematics KTN.
• We will continue to work to better understand and address issues in PhD quality and training, in partnership with other stakeholders.
• We will actively encourage universities to address concerns about participation of women in mathematical sciences.

A number of the recommendations in the review can be addressed at least in part through current funding opportunities, and we have highlighted these in the action plan.

Many of the actions require input from other stakeholders including universities, learned societies, other research councils and the Industrial Mathematics KTN.  For example, we are setting up a Statistics 'taskforce' with the Royal Statistical Society and other funders to understand the wider UK Statistics landscape. We look forward to working in partnership with these stakeholders to sustain and promote UK mathematical sciences, to ensure that the UK is seen as an international research leader and attracts the very best mathematical sciences researchers.

We welcome comments from the community on the review findings or the action plan - please send any feedback to maths@epsrc.ac.uk by 21 December 2011.

Finally, we would like to thank the International Review Panel once more for all their hard work and input, and their continued engagement with EPSRC. We would also like to thank everyone involved in the review for the evidence submitted, which has also been very helpful beyond the review, and their involvement in the review week itself.