Aitken Prize

The Society offers a prize for the best contributed talk by a student at the annual New Zealand Mathematics Colloquium. This prize is known as the Aitken Prize, in honour of the New Zealand born mathematician Alexander Craig Aitken. The Prize was first offered at the 1995 Colloquium held in conjunction with the Aitken Centenary Conference at the University of Otago. Candidates for the Prize give a talk on a topic in any branch of the mathematical sciences.

Eligibility. To be eligible, a candidate must be enrolled (or have been enrolled) for a degree in Mathematics at a university or other tertiary institution in New Zealand in the year of the award. Candidates should indicate their willingness to be considered for the Prize on the Colloquium registration form.

A judging panel is appointed by the NZMS President. The panel makes recommendations to the President for the Prize. Normally the Prize will be awarded to one person, but in exceptional circumstances the Prize may be shared, or no prize may be awarded.

The prize consists of a cheque for NZ$500, accompanied by a certificate.

The Aitken Prize in 2024 was awarded to David Groothuizen Dijkema (University of Auckland) for the talk “Analysing dynamics near heteroclinic networks with a projected map”.

Ellen Hammatt (Victoria University of Wellington) and Davide Papapicco (University of Auckland) earned honorable mentions for their talks.