I’ve put together a series of online public maths presentations, to take place in the last couple of weeks of term before Christmas.

This came about after a few people on the Talking Maths in Public WhatsApp group complained that we can hardly ever take up requests for a speaker to deliver a fun maths talk due to our disabilities, usually because of the difficulty of travelling to and from an event. I quipped that we should set up a series of talks for non-commutative mathematicians, and then I was told that the department’s EDI committee had a load of money sitting unused in its budget. So I decided to use some of it!

The presentations will cover a wide range of topics in maths, statistics and physics, such as how colours mix, how to make a mint on the stock market, and how to pick your next Netflix binge. 

All of the presenters are disabled: we hope to show that anyone can be a mathematician, and mathematicians can do just about anything! 

The presenters include some friends of the Aperiodical, and some people who haven’t yet appeared here. While we decided to aim the content at students in school years 10 to 13 (15- to 18-year-olds) in order to satisfy our outreach priorities, there will be plenty to engage anyone with an interest in mathematics. I’m particularly keen to see other disabled mathematicians attend; there’ll be time for discussion at the end of each session, and it’d be nice to share a range of perspectives and experiences.

Each session will consist of two 30-minute presentations, followed by a question-and-answer session, and will have a live BSL interpreter and captioner.  

The sessions will be recorded, and recordings will be made available to registered attendees shortly after each session. Recordings will be published more widely after the Christmas break.

There’s more information about the presenters, technical details, and how to register to attend on the event’s page.