Looking back at the event: “IHES celebrates women in mathematics”

On May 9, IHES organized a public event highlighting the work and career of mathematicians Nathalie Ayi and Tina Nikoukhah. The aim of the event was to raise awareness on gender diversity issues in mathematics, a field in which women are still underrepresented, and the date was in proximity to May 12, which was chosen by the international community to celebrate women in mathematics. The date coincides with the birthday of the first woman to receive the Fields Medal, Maryam Mirzakhani (1977-2017).

Nathalie Ayi, an Associate Professor at the Jacques-Louis Lions Laboratory (CNRS/Sorbonne University), gave a talk entitled “Some considerations about social dynamics models“, in which she introduced some models of social dynamics, after having briefly spoken about her academic background. The presentation was followed by an informal conversation with Tina Nikoukhah, post-doctoral fellow at the Centre Borelli of ENS Paris-Saclay. The discussion took place in the format of the podcast “Tête-à-tête chercheuse(s)“, that Nathalie Ayi created and that she presents.

The discussions with the audience that followed the two interventions were punctuated with enthusiastic questions, facilitated by Veronica Fantini and Dmitry Vaintrob, both post-doctoral researchers in mathematics at the Institute.

In his introduction to the event, IHES Director Emmanuel Ullmo reminded the audience of the importance of bridging the gender gap in mathematics and more specifically at IHES. The Institute shares with the Fondation Mathématique Jacques Hadamard (FMJH) a strong commitment to implement concrete initiatives to achieve this goal. For years now, the FMJH has partnered with IHES to organize events on this subject matter, as Director of the FMJH Pascal Massart stressed in his closing remarks.

The Institute was honored to welcome Laure Darcos, Senator of Essonne, who with her presence marked her support for the initiatives implemented by IHES.

The evening also gave IHES the opportunity to acknowledge and thank the sponsors who have already committed to supporting diversity at the Institute: the ENGIE Foundation and the Agilent Technologies Foundation.

The participants also had the opportunity to visit the exhibition “Mathématiques, informatique… avec elles !“, created by the association femmes et mathématiques.

Find here the videos of the event.