The second Junior Meeting of the BMS and the Barcelona Graduate School of Mathematics (BGSMath) took place in Berlin from 26 to 28 June 2019. In total, 17 participants from Barcelona and 25 from Berlin joined the event.
The Junior Meetings were launched with a first meeting in Barcelona in October 2017 to create strong scientific exchange, strengthen research collaboration between the respective math communities, and enhance the multicultural environment of both graduate schools. The second Junior Meeting now aimed to intensify current collaborations and create new links between the two schools.
In their opening remarks, BMS Deputy Chair Prof. Dr. Jürg Kramer and BGSMath Director Prof. Dr. Marta Sanz-Solé restated their common goal of striving for excellence in their doctoral and postdoctoral training programs. They also emphasized the importance of networking and of creating diverse frameworks for lively exchange.
The three-day scientific program provided a wealth of interesting half-hour talks by 18 doctoral students and postdocs from the two schools. Mario Kummer (TU Berlin), Albert Mas-Blesa (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), and Thomas Krämer (HU Berlin) gave one-hour talks as plenary speakers.
The thematic focus was on three main areas:
- Algebra, Geometry, Topology
- Probability theory, Statistics, Analysis and PDEs
- Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science.
“With so many areas of mathematics represented, the participants were able to learn about what their colleagues outside of their own research areas are working on and to see connections between different fields”, summarized Tal Orenshtein and Andrew Newman from the organizing committee. “The coffee breaks, the Welcome Reception in the BMS Lounge, and the Conference Dinner made lively exchange and discussions about maths and beyond possible.”
The meeting was organized by a committee of postdocs from the two institutes: Joan Bosa and Marina Gonchenko (both from BGSMath), Jean-Philippe Labbé, Andrew Newman, and Tal Orenshtein (all from the BMS), and chaired by Prof. Kramer and Prof. Sanz-Solé.
In 2016, a memorandum of understanding was signed by both graduate schools in order to boost collaborative work between young researchers from both institutions. The schools declared their intention to cooperate together in initiatives aimed at promoting the mobility of and exchange between students and faculty members by way of events such as the Junior Meeting; joint summer schools; mutual visits by advanced students and postdocs of each institution; and other scientific activities.
