International Maths Challenge

There’s a strange trend in mathematics education in England. Maths is the most popular subject at A-level since overtaking English in 2014. It’s taken by around 85,000 and 90,000 students a year. But many universities – particularly lower-tariff institutions, which accept students with lower A-level grades – are recruiting far fewer students for maths degrees. There’s been a 50% drop in numbers of maths students at the lowest tariff universities over the five years between 2017 and 2021. As a result, some universities are struggling to keep their mathematics departments open. The total number of students studying maths has remained largely static over the last decade. Prestigious Russell Group universities which require top A-level grades have increased their numbers of maths students. This trend in degree-level mathematics education is worrying. It restricts the accessibility of maths degrees, especially to students from poorer backgrounds who ar...

In times of crisis, effective humanitarian aid depends largely on the fast and efficient allocation of resources and personnel. Accurate data about the locations and movements of affected people in these situations is essential for this. Researchers from the University of Tokyo, working with the World Bank, have produced a framework to analyse and visualize population mobility data, which could help in such cases. The research is publishedin the journal  Scientific Reports . Wars, famines, outbreaks, natural disasters—there are unfortunately many reasons why populations might be forced or feel compelled to leave their homes in search of refuge elsewhere, and these cases continue to grow. The United Nations estimated in 2023 that there were more than 100 million forcibly displaced people in the world. More than 62 million of these individuals are considered internally displaced people (IDPs), those in particularly vulnerable situations due to being stuck within the borders of t...