Report on BMC 2008

BMC 60 (York, 2008): a brief report

There were 230 participants, of whom 59 were postgraduate students. The plenary speakers were Hugh Montgomery (Ann Arbor), Tony Joseph (Weizmann Institute), Stanislav Smirnov (Geneva), and Akshay Venkatesh (Courant). In addition there were:

Twelve morning lectures;

Three special sessions (Number Theory, Differential Geometry and Geometric Analysis, Stochastic PDEs and Stochastic Analysis);

Nine splinter groups, which delivered 68 seminars;
A public lecture (Chris Budd);

A history of mathematics lecture (Edmund Robertson);

Four special events (An Interview with Walter Ledermann, Discussion Forum on the Future of the LMS and IMA, Isaac Newton Institute Presentation, MSOR Network Presentation and Interactive Session).

There were also two satellite meetings, before and after the BMC (North British Functional Analysis Seminar, Semigroup Seminar), and a Postgraduate Conference which preceded the main colloquium.

Financial support was provided by the London Mathematical Society, EPSRC, and Edinburgh Mathematical Society, which together with the registration fee (£50, or £30 for students and retired mathematicians) enabled the colloquium to break even.

Chris Wood.