The Assises des Mathématiques will be held from November 14 to 16 at UNESCO House

4 novembre 2022

“How can French mathematics participate in solving the great challenges of tomorrow?” is the theme of the Assisses des mathématiques, which will take place from November 14 to 16 at Unesco House under the high patronage of Emmanuel Macron. Organized by the National Institute of Mathematical Sciences and their Interactions (INSMI) of the CNRS in partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, stakeholders are invited to come and reexamine the role and place of mathematics in society and to reflect on the implementation of a mathematical strategy by 2030 to meet these challenges.

France, a great mathematical nation

France competes with the United States for the top spot in the prestigious Fields Medal, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize, which does not exist for the discipline. It has 14 laureates from Laurent Schwartz in 1950 to Hugo Duminil-Copin this year, among the most recent Artur Ávila (2014), Cédric Villani and Ngô Bảo Châu (2010), Wendelin Werner (2006) and Laurent Lafforgue (2002).

Antoine Petit, CEO of CNRS, states:

“France can be proud of the excellence of its mathematical research, celebrated again at the last International Congress of Mathematics, notably via the Fields Medal awarded to Hugo Duminil-Copin. This excellence in mathematics is an asset for our country, for its attractiveness, for its research in all fields and for its capacity for innovation. But we must also prepare for the future, in a context of increasing international competition, by continuing to invest in education and research in mathematics.

However, various studies have highlighted the general decline in level, the lack of interest in the discipline, the lack of girls in these fields and the difficulty of recruitment in secondary education. In a text published by Challenges last March, 30 major business leaders signed an appeal to “save math” so that the subject can regain its place in the “common core” of high school.

Reinventing the role of mathematics in our society

The symposium will be the culmination of a year’s work:

Seven working groups were formed at the beginning of 2022, with the objective for each of them to examine in depth a major issue related to mathematics in France. All of the work was summarized for the benefit of economic and political leaders and the academic world, a key resource in the drafting of the Proceedings of the Assises, which will be published the day after the event;
An update of the study on the economic impact of mathematics in France, published by AMIES in 2015, was made, in order to convince the socio-economic world of the importance of increasing its interactions with mathematics.
Three calls for projects have been launched:
- The Mathematics 2030 challenge to find mathematical implications for the 10 major challenges of the France 2030 plan;
- The Mathematics Dissemination Challenge to implement an original scientific mediation action in mathematics (film, exhibition, web application, etc.);
- The Defense challenge addressing the following themes: environment, geography, mobility, information processing, cyber, operational research.

Program:

Monday, November 14

Antoine Petit, CEO of CNRS and Manuel Tunon de Lara, President of France Universities will give a welcome speech which will be followed by a speech by Sylvie Retailleau, Minister of Higher Education and Research and then by a lecture byHugo Duminil-Copin, Professor at the University of Geneva and IHES and Fields Medal 2022.

Two round tables will follow:

The first one will concernteaching
It will deal with the new needs in mathematics teaching, at all levels from primary to higher education and continuing education, as well as the means to be implemented to face them.

Speakers :

Antoine Bodin, Associate Professor, trainer in didactics and evaluation;
Merieme Chadid, President of the Board of the International Basic Sciences Programme of UNESCO;
Louise Nyssen, Lecturer in mathematics at the University of Montpellier;
Thomas Renault, Associate Professor at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne;
Charles Torossian, Director of the Institut des hautes études de l’éducation et de la formation.

The topic of the second round table will be the National Synthesis of Mathematics
This round table will bring together members of the expert committee and Hcéres who produced the National Synthesis on Mathematics, which will be published in early November. The participants will present the main conclusions of this long work, which is based on ten years of evaluations of mathematics laboratories by Hcéres, as well as the proposals that result from it.

Speakers:

Marc Peigné, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Tours and President of the synthesis committee;
Valérie Berthé, CNRS Research Director at the Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale (IRIF) and member of the hcéres committee on the National Synthesis on Mathematics;
Frédéric Hérau, Professor of Mathematics at the Laboratoire de Mathématiques Jean Leray;
Frédérique Sachwald, Director of the Observatoire des Sciences et Techniques – Hcéres;
Grégoire Allaire, Professor of Mathematics at the École Polytechnique and vice-president of the synthesis committee.

Tuesday, November 15

The morning will begin with three scientific presentations by:

The recipient of the Assises Medal;
Angèle Niclas, laureate of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talents France program;
Flore Sentenac , also a laureate of the Jeunes talents France L’Oréal-UNESCO program.

These presentations will be followed by the round table : Maths and interactions
It will deal with the interactions of mathematics with the other sciences, the new needs that are emerging, the new modes of collaboration that are being set up, and the most effective ways to encourage and support them.

Speakers:

Meriem El Karoui, Professor of Biology at the University of Edinburgh;
David Holcman, Director of Research at the CNRS in mathematics, assigned to the CNRS Institute of Biology (ENS Paris);
Claire Mathieu, CNRS Research Director in computer science at the Institute for Research in Fundamental Computer Science;
Eric Moulines, Professor in mathematics at the Ecole Polytechnique;
Pierre Pansu, Professor in mathematics at the University of Paris-Saclay (PSL);
Magda Tomasini, Director of the Institut national d’études démographiques.

The symposium will resume in the afternoon with a video testimony by Benoit Bazin, CEO of Saint-Gobain, followed by :

The round table: Math and Industry
This panel will discuss the changing needs of mathematics in different types of industry, and the new modes of interaction that could be implemented or developed with teachers and researchers in mathematics.

Speakers:

Mark Asch, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Picardie Jules Verne;
Magnus Fontes, Director General of the Roche Institute;
Xavier Lazarus, Co-founder of Elaia;
Véronique Maume-Deschamps, Director of the Agency for Mathematics in Interaction with Business and Society (AMIES).
Then, the testimony of Florent Menegaux, President of the Michelin Group, will be preceded by the video testimony of Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, and followed by a scientific presentation by Tina Nikoukhah, winner of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talents France program.
Mr. Bruno Bonnell, Secretary General for Investment, will deliver a speech and the day will end with the award ceremony associated with the three challenges.

Wednesday, November 16

The testimony of Rémi Munos, Director of the Google DeepMind laboratory in Paris, will open this third day of the symposium. This will be followed by a lecture by Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Director of Research at the CEA’s Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences and co-chair of IPCC Working Group 1, and a scientific presentation by Mégane Bournissou, winner of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talents France program.

A final round table will follow: Society, Diversity, Parity
It will address the needs in mathematics in society, the perception of this discipline in the collective imagination, as well as societal issues within mathematics, such as the low representation of women.

Speakers:

Valérie Rabault, Vice-President of the National Assembly;
Marie-Françoise Roy, Professor Emeritus at the University of Rennes, President of the IMU Committee for Women in Mathematics;
Etienne Ghys, Emeritus Research Director at CNRS;
Estelle Kollar, Mathematics teacher at Louis-Armand College in Nancy, present on TikTok and Youtube;
Thierry Horsin, University Professor in mathematics at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM);
Phillipe Pajot, Editor-in-Chief of La recherche magazine;
Guillaume Hollard, Professor of Economics at the Ecole Polytechnique.

A discussion with Romain Murenzi, Executive Director of the World Academy of Sciences, will take place before the closing speeches of the Assises des mathématiques.

They will be given by Stéphane Jaffard, Director of the Assises des mathématiques project and Christophe Besse, Director of the Institut National des Sciences Mathématiques et de leurs Interactions (INSMI) of the CNRS.

It is possible to participate in one or more of these days by registering here

Translated from Les Assises des Mathématiques se tiendront du 14 au 16 novembre prochain à la Maison de l’UNESCO