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(above) Star and Cloud by Bruce Gernand. The sculpture was recently gifted to the Institute by the artist himself - see the bottom of this email for more pictures.
INI NEWS BULLETIN
August 2020
Dear friends, associates and supporters of INI,
Welcome to the August 2020 edition of our monthly news bulletin. As September begins we are continuing to work towards the reopening of the Institute's main buildings. As soon as there is significant news in this regard this email list will be the first audience to be informed. However, as detailed in the July edition of the Bulletin, there has been much ongoing activity here at INI despite the difficulty of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Below you will find: a podcast interview with Professor Rebecca Hoyle (Southampton), whose expertise with study groups has proven an integral part in the formation of the Virtual Forum for Knowledge Exchange in Mathematical Sciences (V-KEMS), a reminder of two forthcoming online workshops starting within the next 10 days: Future pandemics and Integrating quantitative social, ecological and mathematical sciences into landscape decision-making, and further pictures of the fascinating new artwork teased above.
Thanks for your continued interest, and we look forward to returning to normal working conditions as soon as possible.
- INI Communications team
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Contact: communications@newton.ac.uk
PODCAST(s) OF THE MONTH: "mathematics goes virtual", an interview with Professor Rebecca Hoyle.
(above) Professor Rebecca Hoyle.
In episode #24, of the INI podcast Dan Aspel and Ciara Dangerfield are joined by Professor Rebecca Hoyle to discuss the relevance of study groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the thinking behind the Virtual Forum for Knowledge Exchange in Mathematical Sciences [V-KEMS] initiative. Rebecca is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Southampton, and her interdisciplinary work focuses on dynamical processes in biology and social science. You can find her on Twitter here: twitter.com/rebeccahoyle
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - A short history of study groups
03:50 - … leading to V-KEMS
08:00 - The realities of virtual working
09:25 - Topics within recent virtual study groups
12:00 - What’s it like to attend a “virtual” study group, and who attends?
20:20 - Diverse research and psychological wellbeing
25:45 - Is a virtual experience a “real” experience?
32:00 - A “giant river of mathematics”
33:00 - Stand-up mathematics: “terrifying, but fun if you survive”
35:50 - Social media recommendations
WORKSHOPS REMINDER: information about two INI workshops taking place in September.
(above) lead image for the Integrating quantitative social, ecological and mathematical sciences into landscape decision-making workshop.
This coming month INI will be hosting two workshops, the full details of which are linked to below. For any enquires or for further information on participation please email workshops@newton.ac.uk.
> Integrating quantitative social, ecological and mathematical sciences into landscape decision-making, 7-11 September 2020
> Future pandemics, 10-25 September 2020
(below) lead image for the Future pandemics workshop.
NEW ARTWORK: further images of the new "Star and Cloud" sculpture recently housed at the Institute.
In this sculpture Star and Cloud; both of the heavens, both formed by gasses and moisture yet visually different, are brought together. A star becomes substantial after time, whereas a cloud remains insubstantial, dissolving and ever changing. A cloud is within reach, a star so distant that we should never gain it in a thousand lifetimes. In this simple alignment Gernand has achieved a marriage of opposites. The star and cloud forms are separate yet they combine in the universe of this sculpture, wrapping and interlocking - and where negative space exists, our eye participates to fill the gap. Gernand realised this complex imagery with the aid of a computer, as the layered quality of the sculpture suggests. This is a lyrical, romantic sculpture realised in a light metal. In Star and Cloud Gernand has achieved mass, but with the indication of lightness through his use of aluminium... the contrast between the sharp lines of the star and the soft, enveloping cloud is underlined where they almost connect, just as day merges into night and night into day. In this sculpture elements which are distant yet familiar combine and contrast poetically.
The Institute would like to extend a warm thanks to artist Bruce Gernand for gifting us Star and Cloud, which is now on display in the courtyard just outside of INI's main break area. We hope it provides a source of fascination and inspiration to all future visitors to the building, and we look forward to celebrating it in a more public way as soon as circumstances allow.
Further pictures of its installation follow below.
