University of York: Vacancy for a Professor of Mathematics

Department of Mathematics

Professor of Mathematics

ADVERTISEMENT

Applications are invited for a Chair of Mathematics to be held from 1 October 
1999.  The post will include the position of Head of Department for an initial 
period of five years. The university is looking for a mathematician with a 
broad view, to lead the department through an imminent period of renewal and 
expansion.  The department at present is well placed to launch a programme of 
development, having a strong research programme, a thriving graduate school, 
and a well-qualified and oversubscribed  undergraduate entry with steadily 
rising numbers of applications.  It was awarded 22 points out of 24 in the 
recent QAA Subject Review.

The successful candidate will be a distinguished mathematician in any area of 
the subject with strong leadership qualities.  At York the whole range of 
mathematics is covered in a single department; there are research groups in 
algebra, analysis, number theory, optimisation and control, applied analysis, 
mathematical physics and statistics. In the 1996 RAE it obtained grade 4 in 
Pure Mathematics and grade 3a in Applied Mathematics.  Statistics was entered 
under Economics and Econometrics, which obtained  grade 5.

The salary will be within the professorial range (current minimum œ35,170 
per annum).

Informal enquiries may be made to the current Head of Department, Professor 
Tony Sudbery (telephone 01904-433081; email [log in to unmask]). Further 
information and details of application procedures may be obtained from the
Personnel Office, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, quoting
reference number 1000. The closing date for applications is 19 March 1999.

FURTHER  PARTICULARS

The Department of Mathematics</h4>

Mathematics at York is contained in a single department embracing pure and
applied mathematics, mathematical physics, and statistics. In October 1999
there will be 19 full-time permanent members of staff, a Professor of
Statistics in a joint appointment with the Department of Economics, and 7
post-doctoral research staff. The degree courses in Mathematics are a
three-year BA/BSc and a four-year MMath in Mathematics, and combined
degrees in Mathematics with Computer Science, Economics, Education,
Linguisti cs, Philosophy and Physics. At present there are 355
undergraduate students (full-time equivalent: 296); their average A-level
grades on entry amounted to 25 points (=ABB/BBB). Teaching is mainly by
means of lectures, with small-group tutorials or seminars supporting each
course. Each student is assigned a supervisor who is responsible for
overseeing the student's academic progress and general welfare; each
member of staff has about 20 supervisees. A normal teaching load is about
180 hours (including three or four courses of 18 lectures each as well as
tutorials, seminars and project supervision) per 27-week year. The quality
of teaching in the department was assessed by the QAA in October 1998, and
was awarded 22 points out of 24. It obtained the maximum grade of 4 in
four of the six aspects of the review (Teaching, Learning and Assessment; 
Student Progression and Achievement; Student Support and Guidance; and
Learning Resources) with a grade of 3 in the other two (Curriculum Design,
Content and Organisation, and Quality Management and Enhancement).  

The department's teaching is the responsibility of the Board of Studies,
which consists of all teaching members of staff together with student
representatives. Teaching duties are allocated by the Head of Department. 

Research in Mathematics

In the Research Assessment Exercise conducted in 1996 Pure Mathematics at
York was given a grade of 4, Applied Mathematics a grade of 3a. There are
currently 9 research students in the department (this figure is lower than
usual because of the onset of the MMath degree; at York the first MMath
students will graduate in 1999).  

The fact that pure mathematics, applied mathematics and theoretical
physics, and statistics are combined in a single department means that
there is considerable interaction between staff with different
mathematical backgrounds, in all three areas, and work is done which
straddles conventional subject boundaries. The main areas
of activity are as follows: 

Analysis:  Simon Eveson works on operator theory with applications to
differential and integral equations. Another Lecturer in Analysis is to be
appointed to replace Terry Sheil-Small, who will retire in September 1999. 

Algebra: John Fountain and Victoria Gould, with three research students,
work on semigroup theory and automata. Max Nazarov (currently EPSRC
Advanced Fellow) works in representation theory and invariant theory; he,
Tony Sudbery and Tomasz Brzezinski also work on quantum groups.

Number Theory: Maurice Dodson, with two research assistants, works on
Diophantine approximation and Hausdorff dimension, using
ideas from dynamical systems. Richard Hall is currently working on the
Riemann zeta function. Terence Jac kson works on quadratic forms.

Geometry:  Chris Wood, with one research student, works on harmonic maps
of Riemannian manifolds. Richard Hall works on the analysis related to
minimal surfaces.

Applied Analysis:  Arnold Arthurs and Norman Anderson follow a number of
lines of research in this area, including differential equations and
associated transformations, variational principles, canonical systems, and
the application of functional analysis and the theory of integral
equations to nonlinear boundary value problems.

Mathematical Physics:  Bernard Kay, Atsushi Higuchi and Chris Fewster,
together with three research students, work on quantum field theory in
curved space-time. At present they are particularly interested in
non-globally hyperbolic spacetimes. Tony Sudbery has interests in quantum
theory (nonlocality), quantum groups and other algebraic methods, and has
two research students working in these areas. Tomasz Brzezinski, currently
Lloyd's of London Research Fellow, works on quantum groups, noncommutative
geometry and integrable systems. 

The department is active in a number of other areas of mathematical
physics. Arnold Arthurs has a long-standing interest in Feynman path
integrals and quantum mechanics. Norman Anderson works in classical
electromagnetic theory. Maurice Dodson's work on D iophantine
approximation relates to the stability of Hamiltonian systems;  he also
leads a project on industrial applications of dynamical systems, with one
research assistant. 

Traffic theory: Mike Smith leads the York Network Control Group with four
research assistants, working on the analysis and control of traffic flow
in towns.  

Statistics: Karim Abadir (joint with Economics) has interests in
special functions, time series, distribution theory, semi/non-parametric
models, mathematical finance and econometric modelling; he has one
post-doctoral Research Assistant. Peter Lee is interested in Bayesian
statistics and probability theory. One other lecturer in Statistics is to
be appointed from 1 October 1999. 

The University of York

The University of York was founded in 1963 and is situated on an
attractive campus on the boundary of the city, within easy reach of the
historic (and very beautiful) city centre. The city has a population of
about 100,000 and supports an active cultural life, including one of the
country's oldest-established repertory theatres and an adventurous musical
programme based on the university. The university has a small presence in
the centre of the city (Architecture and Medieval Studies), but is
otherwise united on the campus. A Science Park associated with the
university is situated adjacently.  

The university has a total of about 5000 undergraduate and 1500
postgraduate students. All but four units of assessment were rated at 4, 5
or 5* in the 1996 RAE, and none less than 3.  The gradings awarded in QAA
teaching quality assessments are among the best in the country, placing
York second only to Cambridge in its average grading. In league tables
of universities produced by newspapers York regularly appears in the top
ten; the Financial Times placed it sixth in the UK in April 1998,
the Sunday Times fifth in November 1998.

The administrative structure is flat, with no faculties or other units
higher than the academic departments. The decision-making bodies are the
General Academic Board, whose members are elected from all academic and
academic-related staff, and the Professorial Board. 


HOW TO APPLY

If you wish to apply for one of our vacancies you should contact the 
Personnel Office for a recruitment pack which contains: a job description, an
application form ('Technical' amd 'Secretarial, Clerical and Related'
posts only) or details of the format your application must take (eg CVs); 
general information about the University; terms and conditions of employment, 
information about 'the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996' and an equal 
opportunities monitoring form.  This can be obtained by:

   writing on a postcard to: the Personnel Office, University of York, 
       Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, or by
   email to [log in to unmask]


You must state the following details:

   the post reference number 1000
   your name and POSTAL address

You are advised not to apply without first obtaining the recruitment pack.  
Applications by e-mail will not be accepted, but must be submitted 
in the format specified in the recruitment pack.

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