HSE University Researchers to Speak at the International Congress of Mathematicians

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The speakers of the International Congress of Mathematicians, a key global mathematics event held every four years by the International Mathematical Union, have been announced. The next ICM will take place in St. Petersburg, Russia, in July 2022. Five researchers from the HSE Faculty of Mathematics will present their papers at the congress.

The congress is held in various countries across different continents and is a central event in the life of the global mathematics community. Major awards for outstanding achievements in mathematics, such as the Fields Medal, are given at the ICM. The first congress took place in Zurich in 1897; in 2018, it was held in Rio de Janeiro, and now, St. Petersburg has been chosen as the location for the 2022 event. In recent decades, several thousand mathematicians from all over the world have participated each year.

Academic presentations are an essential part of the congress. Speakers are carefully selected by the Programme Committee, whose members are chosen by the administration of the International Mathematical Union. An interesting fact: the list of Programme Committee members is not announced before the ICM opening ceremony in order to avoid pressure on committee members. Being invited to speak at the congress is a major honour for any professional mathematician.

Alexandra Skripchenko, Dean of the HSE Faculty of Mathematics

The International Congress of Mathematicians is a key professional event for mathematicians from all over the world. It is a unique opportunity for academics to communicate their research results to leading experts in the field and meet their colleagues, and for beginner researchers to meet true celebrities in mathematics, attend presentations at the highest level, and probably decide on the field of their future research. We are very proud of our colleagues who were invited as plenary and section speakers. We are also actively participating in organizing the congress: some of our staff members are among the organizers of six satellite conferences, and even more will be invited speakers. Many of our students are going to be volunteers at the congress. I am very hopeful that it will be an important motivating event in their lives and will kick-start their bright academic careers.

An invitation to deliver a plenary speech at the ICM is a sign that the global academic community recognizes the researcher’s considerable global input into modern mathematics.

In 2022, the Congress Programme Committee selected 21 plenary speakers. They include two researchers from the HSE Faculty of Mathematics: Professor Igor Krichever and Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Algebraic Geometry and Its Applications. In addition, three researchers from the Faculty of Mathematics were invited to give sectional presentations. They are Alexander Efimov, Research Fellow at the International Laboratory for Mirror Symmetry and Automorphic Forms (in the sections ‘Algebra’ and ‘Algebraic and Complex Geometry’), Yuri Prokhorov, Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Algebraic Geometry and Its Applications (in the section ‘Algebraic and Complex Geometry’) and Evgeny Feigin, Professor at the Joint Department with The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (in the section ‘Lie Theory and Generalizations’).

This means that a total of five members of the faculty’s staff will be invited speakers at ICM 2022.

Yuri Prokhorov, Senior Research Fellow at the Laboratory of Algebraic Geometry and Its Applications

The congress has only been held in Russia once: in Moscow in 1966. For any university, an invitation for one of its researchers to speak at the congress reflects international acknowledgement that the university conducts mathematical research at the highest level. For a mathematician, speaking at the congress is a sign of clear recognition of their achievements. Usually, the topics of congress papers determine the development of mathematics for many years ahead, and congress materials are often cited and used for decades as a reflection of the contemporary state of mathematics.

Evgeny Feigin, Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics Joint Department with The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The International Congress of Mathematicians is a major event in the life of the international mathematical community. The papers presented at the congress describe the situation in mathematics today and outline areas for further research. The ICM attracts an impressive list of participants. For any university in the world, having an employee give a presentation at the ICM is a good way to improve its reputation as a leading research centre and increase its global visibility. It is a huge honour for me to be invited to speak at the congress. I am grateful to my colleagues for the opportunity to present the results of my research to such a distinguished audience.