Raising Public Awareness Committee of the European Mathematical Society

• Chair

Roberto Natalini is the Director of the Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo “Mauro Picone”of the Italian CNR. His research themes concerns: fluid dynamics, road traffic, chemical damage of monuments, biomathematics. He coordinates the public awareness site MaddMaths! and is the director of Archimede, the oldest Italian journal devoted to popularization of Mathematics. From 2015, he is Chair of the Raising Public Awareness of the European Mathematical Society.

• Vice Chair

Silvia Benvenuti is a researcher in geometry at the University of Camerino. Her main research interests are topology in low dimension; geometric optimization and applications to architecture; formal and informal maths education. Since 2006, when she obtained the title of Master in Science Communication at ISAS in Trieste, she deals with the communication of mathematics. She is the author of a book on Non-Euclidean geometry (2008), of the book Salads of mathematics. Seven variations on art, design and architecture (2010) and of the book Maths Salads. Guided tasting sessions to stimulate numerical appetite, with Robert Ghattas and Paolo Gangemi (2016), published by Sironi and of several scientific communication articles for Linx Magazine, XLaTangente, Mate, Maddmaths!. Since winter 2010 she participates in the programs Geo & Geo, Geo Magazine and Geo Scienza (Rai 3 – italian national television broadcast). She is a member of the editorial board of the magazine Matematica, Cultura e Società – Rivista dell’Unione Matematica Italiana, and of the magazine XLaTangente, Kangourou Italia. Since June 2011 she is a member of the matematita Center – Interuniversity Research Centre for Communication and Informal Learning of Mathematics, and since October 2012 she is a member of the Raising Public Awareness committee of the European Mathematical Society.

• Members

Sylvie Benzoni-Gavage is a professor of mathematics at the Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, in France, and, since January 1st, 2018, is the head of the Institut Henri Poincaré. Her main research interests concern hyperbolic partial differential equations, surface waves, dispersive hydrodynamics, phase transitions and traffic flow. She used to be in charge of the press review for the French website Images des mathématiques, and was involved in the executive committee of the blog mpt2013.fr in connection with the Mathematics of Planet Earth initiative. She is a member of the Paris ICM 2022 Committee.

Fernando Blasco is associate professor of Applied Maths Department at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain. He worked on functional analysis but now his main interest is outreach, mainly done by mean of recreational mathematics. Is an amateur magician and is interested in the role that legerdemain plays in explaining science. He has written four books on popular mathematics and is the editor of another three books on the subject. He collaborates with TV shows and radio programs in Spain and is frequently invited to perform in university and high school classrooms, civic centres, and science museums inside and outside Spain. You can find more information at fblasco.net.

Andreas Daniel Matt is director of IMAGINARY, an international non-profit organisation for the open communication of modern mathematics with its base in Berlin. He studied mathematics and computer science and did his PhD in mathematics in machine learning at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Buenos Aires. From 2007-2016, he coordinated the project IMAGINARY at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach. He also curated the MiMa, museum for minerals and mathematics in Oberwolfach.

Michel Rigo is full professor, Math. Department of the University of Liège, Belgium. His research interests concern: combinatorics, numeration systems, combinatorial games and theoretical computer science. Since 2007, he works actively to popularize mathematics giving hundreds of talks in high schools. He was awarded the Wernaers prize in 2010 for “dissemination of knowledge”. Since 2012, he is the academic supervisor of the local cell ‘RéjouiSciences’ from the University of Liège in charge of the organization of various events for the promotion of STEM for a general audience.

• Responsible Member for Executive Committee of the EMS