A study group is a type of workshop which brings together mathematicians and people from industry. The meetings typically last for 5 days, Monday-Friday. On the Monday morning the industry representatives present problems of current interest to an audience of applied mathematicians. Subsequently the mathematicians split into working groups to investigate the suggested topics. On the Friday solutions and results are presented to the industry representative. After the meeting a report is prepared for the company, detailing the progress made and usually with suggestions for further work or experiments. Over the years they have proved to be an excellent way of building bridges between universities and companies as well as providing exciting new topics for mathematicians. Of course there is pressure involved in attempting to understand and solve a problem over a short time frame. This can often produce an exciting and intense atmosphere but, in general, a good time is had by all.
Experiments can often help guide a mathematical investigation (or cause even more confusion)
The original Study Groups with Industry started in Oxford in 1968. The format proved a popular way for initiating interaction between universities and private industry. The interaction often led to further collaboration, student projects and new fields of research. Consequently, study groups were adopted in other countries, starting in Europe to form the European Study Groups with Industry (ESGI) and then spreading throughout the world, regular meetings are currently held in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, US, Russia and South Africa. A vast range of topics have been covered in the meetings, including beer and wine bottle labelling, legal sale of rhino horn, spontaneous combustion, mortgaging of cows, building toys, city bike sharing strategies, determining fish freshness, etc. New forms of meeting have also evolved, such as the Mathematics in Medicine or Agri-Food Study Groups.
The popularity of study groups can be attributed to their mutually beneficial effects. For companies there is:
- The possibility of a quick solution to their problem, or at least guidance on a way forward.
- Mathematicians can help identify and correctly formulate a problem for further study.
- Access to state-of-the-art techniques.
- Building contacts with top researchers in a given field.
The academics benefit from:
- Discovering new problems and research areas with practical applications.
- The possibility of further projects and collaboration with industry.
- The opportunity for future funding.
An important feature of these meetings is that they can also highlight the talents of students, leading to employment opportunities with the companies. In South Africa, after attending a number of study groups, a group of students took a new direction. Noting the gap in the market for applying mathematics to real world problems they started their own company, Isazi Consulting. Now they return to the meetings this time posing their own problems, and looking for new recruits.
Information on the European Study Groups can be found on the website of the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry. A good source of information for meetings in Europe and the rest of the world is the Mathematics in Industry Information Service, see
ECMI Study Groups https://ecmiindmath.org/study-groups/
MIIS Website http://www.maths-in-industry.org/
Tim Myers
Centre de Recerca Matematica
Barcelona, Spain
