National Committee for Mathematics Activities in 1999-2000

Activities in 99

The National Committee was consistently active in 1999 although the site has no detailed listing of these activities. The chair was just too busy to prepare a complete report. One highlight of 99 was the very successful joint conference of the American and Australian Mathematical Societies. Klaus Ecker (Monash) was the principal organizer of this meeting which took place at Melbourne University in July. There was also a strong mathematical presence at the inaugural Science meets Parliament event organized by FASTS in Canberra in November. This event which will be repeated annually gave an excellent opportunity to meet and discuss with a wide range of federal politicians.

An important midyear event was the launch of the much delayed government Green Paper on research funding `New Knowledge, New Opportunities' issued by the Minister, David Kemp, in June I999. This was subsequently followed by the White Paper `Knowledge and Innovation' issued in December 1999. Although these papers give a general indication of the changes to be expected to the Higher Education Research System and to the Australian Research Council (ARC) many details remain to be clarified.

ICM 2006

It was suggested by the Council of the Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS) in 1993 that Australia should bid to host the International Congress of Mathematics (ICM), the principal conference organized by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The original suggestion was to bid for the ICM in 2002 but it was subsequently decided to consider bidding for the 2006 meeting. The Congress is a large affair with total attendance around 3500 plus or minus 1000 which is traditionally organized at a European venue although in recent years it has taken place in North America and Japan and the 2002 Congress is scheduled for Beijing.

The IMU established a Site Committee to consider bids for ICM 2006 with the final decision to be taken by the General Assembly of the IMU at is meeting prior to ICM 2002 in Beijing. The budget proposed for the 2006 Congress is expected to be of the order of US$1.5 million of which one third might be raised through registration fees. It is also expected that the host country will provide free accommodation for about 120 young research mathematicians from developing countries and possibly some financial support for invited speakers.

Despite the difficulties inherent in these conditions a search committee was established by the Council of the AustMS at its Winter meeting in July 99 to test interest in a bid. There were two suggested sites, Brisbane or Sydney. Subsequently Ian Sloan, as President of the AustMS, set up a Preliminary Working Party to investigate the possibility of holding the Congress in Sydney. The working party consisted of David Hunt (UNSW) as convenor, together with Gus Lehrer (Sydney), Michael Cowling (UNSW), Ian Sloan (UNSW). The working party gave a detailed report to the Heads of Departments of Mathematics at their annual meeting on the 7th February 2000 at UNSW. The report was fully debated and provisional support was given for a bid. The majority of departmental heads thought that the congress would be beneficial to Australian mathematics and were ready to commit resources to support a bid. Subsequently the working party reported to the Steering Committee of the Council of the AustMS on the 9th February 2000 in Waitangi. After long debate it was decided that the Society could not support a bid. There were several difficulties. The first was timing. Traditionally the ICM has been held in August in the Northern Hemisphere but this does not fit the Australian academic year of March to November with a midyear break in July. Secondly, experience with the 1997 International Conference on Mathematical Physics (ICMP) in Brisbane indicated that an Australian based meeting would attract less than the usual number of participants, possibly 2500 plus or minus 500, and the lower attendance would have an adverse effect on the budget. Thirdly, the AustMS was already heavily committed financially with support for the International Congress for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) which is scheduled for Sydney in 2003.

In conclusion it was decided that Australia would not bid for the Congress in 2006 and the President of the IMU was duly informed.

ARC Reforms

One element of the government reforms of research funding mooted in the Green and White papers mentioned above is an overhaul of the Australian Research Council (ARC). This is important to the mathematical sciences since the bulk of university funding for research in mathematics and statistics derives from the ARC Large Grants Scheme. Moreover, the mathematical sciences have competed with consistent success at all levels in the ARC Fellowships Scheme.

In the reformed ARC the Large Grants and Fellowships Schemes will be combined as part of a new National Competitive Grants Program(me). The overall program will be split into six separate subprograms. The mathematical sciences, which were previously grouped with the physical sciences, will now be combined in a program with information technology and electrical engineering. Details of the new programs are slowly emerging but implementation appears to be delayed by the slow pace of legislation following the White Paper. The Chair of the ARC, Professor Vicki Sara, has asked ARC Panel Members for advice on various aspects of the new programs and the National Committee has made several suggestion relating to the new program involving the mathematical sciences.