The CCIMI event, new directions in the Mathematics of Information, was held earlier this month at the Cambridge centre for Mathematical Sciences.

The afternoon began with a short ceremony to celebrate the naming of  one of the mathematics buildings, with the new signage unveiled by Ewan Kirk, cofounder and chief investment officer of Cantab Capital Partners, and Carola Schönlieb, CCIMI Director. The afternoon continued with a series of academic talks from Carola Schönlieb, Tim Gowers and Richard Samworth, showcasing the broad range of topics being investigated at the CCIMI.

This was followed by a poster session during which the CCIMI students presented the plans for their PhD projects alongside a large variety of ongoing work related to the centre.  The afternoon finished with a very entertaining presentation from David Spiegelhalter looking at ‘Uses and abuses of numbers in the news’.  This was followed by dinner in the central core at CMS, during which Stephen Hawking gave a pre-dinner speech, alongside a few words from Matt Killeya, Head of Research at Cantab.  Professor Stephan Hawking emphasised the importance of research into Big Data, describing it as key to ‘some of the most important scientific advances in human history’.  A great article covering the pre-dinner speech made the Cambridge University news pages.

The event was a huge success, with presentations from some of Cambridge’s eminent mathematicians highlighting the value of the work being done by the institution.

Talks from the event can be found here and further pictures from the day are also available here