NZMS Vaughan Jones Lectureship

Professor Elizabeth Allman is the recipient of the Inaugural Vaughan Jones Lectureship 2027. Elizabeth will be visiting New Zealand from mid October to mid November next year, and give a series of public lectures and colloquium talks at Auckland, Massey, Victoria, Canterbury, and Otago.

Elizabeth Allman is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She completed her undergraduate degree in Mathematics at Yale University, and was awarded her PhD in Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995. Her thesis was entitled “Polynomials without Roots in Division Algebras”.

Elizabeth’s early research on certain aspects of algebra continues to influence her current research that develops, applies, and implements novel algebraic, combinatorial, and statistical techniques to address modern problems in mathematical biology. More specifically, she is leading research on the identifiability of phylogenetic networks, mathematical objects representing reticulate (non-treelike) evolution.

The organisers of the lectureship tour are Simone Linz (University of Auckland) and Charles Semple (University of Canterbury), who will contact the host departments early next year to finalise Elizabeth’s itinerary.

The NZMS Vaughan Jones Lectureship occurs every two years (in odd-numbered years). A call for nominations will be made in the preceding (even-numbered) year.

Eligibility criteria

The nominee must:

• be nominated by a current member of the New Zealand Mathematical Society
• reside outside of New Zealand
• be an eminent mathematical researcher in their field
• have a good record as a speaker presenting to a broad mathematics audience

Guidelines

Nominators are encouraged to involve the nominee in the application process. The nominator must demonstrate that the nominee has gained recognition as both a researcher and speaker, supported by evidence.

The lectureship involves speaking to both the general public and a broad mathematically trained audience at most New Zealand universities, and thus it is important that the nominee can deliver a suitable talk pitched for such audiences in addition to a more technical talk which might be appropriate for a more specialised audience when appropriate. The abstracts formulated as part of the nomination need not be strictly adhered to, but will help set the tone for the type of lecture which is appropriate for the target audience and assist the Lectureship Committee in their decision.

Ideally, the expertise of the nominee will synergise with that of multiple research groups across New Zealand so that more than one university can benefit from the visit. However, it is recognised that due to the scale of the New Zealand research sector and the highly specialised hubs at some institutions, this may not always be the case. In any case, a reasonably balanced itinerary is expected, i.e. such that the majority of the visit is not spent at any one institution.

Advice to Applicants

The application should consist of:

a) A document completed by the nominator, which includes:

• a statement by the nominator, arguing the case for awarding the lectureship to the nominee and providing evidence of an exemplary contribution to their research area and good track record as a speaker, and
• a proposed citation (maximum 100 words) to describe the work of the nominee.

b) A document completed by the nominee, which includes:

• an acknowledgement of the commitment entailed by the lectureship,
• a sample public lecture abstract for a talk which might be delivered to the general public, and
• a sample colloquium abstract for a talk which might be delivered to a general mathematically trained audience.

Some additional pointers:

Evidence of good track record as a speaker could include links to recordings of previous public lectures or colloquiums.

The nominator should be aware they will be expected to act as global organiser of the speaker’s itinerary, should their nomination be successful.

The application (items a-b) should be submitted as a single file (PDF or Word).

The Lectureship Committee will make recommendations to the President of the NZMS for approval.

Submission

A call for the 2029 NZMS Vaughan Jones lectureship is expected to be made early 2028.