GRANTEES' REPORTS
David Bryant:
University of Canterbury
Last year I was privileged to attend a conference on phylogenetics in Bielefeld, Germany. The conference, or perhaps more accurately, the workshop was jointly organized by phylogenetics groups in Massey and in Bielefeld. The emphasis was on encouraging discussion, particularly on classification techniques that were not restricted to trees.
What I found most helpful was the opportunity to discuss my own work, and to discuss future
work, with other participants at the conference,
including many of the principle contributors to this field. What I found least helpful was my travel insurance company after all of my luggage was stolen.
I wish to thank the NZMS, the department of Mathematics and Statistics at Canterbury, and the Mathematics department in Bielefeld for financial assistance.
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Chris Stephens:
University of Canterbury
During December 10-14, 1995 I attended the `Third Workshop on Global Optimization', in Szeged, Hungary. The central topic of the conference was the methods, theory and applications of finding the overall, or global, optima of multiextremal functions.
The atmosphere of the conference was warm and sociable, making it easy to meet, and have enlightening discourse, with many of the other fifty participants. I presented a joint paper, by myself and my supervisor, Dr. W. Baritompa, `Global optimization requires global information'.
I learned a lot from the talks of the other participants, as well as renewing my enthusiasm and interest in the field. I also took the opportunity to visit two universities in Australia, on my way to, and from, Hungary.
On my way there, I gave a talk, `Global optimization-tools and techniques', to the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide; and on my way back, I travelled up to the University of Central Queensland in Rockhampton, for a short, but rewarding, visit to a group of three mathematicians in the field. My attendance at my first interval conference proved to be more than just interesting and informative, but rather invaluable to me. I am grateful to the NZMS for their retrospective grant.
I would also like to thank the NZMS for their student travel grants to the annual Mathematics Colloquiums, which have, in part, allowed me to attend for the past three years.
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Irene Pestov:
Victoria University of Wellington
First of all I would like to thank the New Zealand Mathematical Society for their continued support throughout all three and a half years of my study. This year I attended the MISG workshop in Melbourne, the 32nd Australian Applied Mathematics Conference (ANZIAM 96) in Masterton, and the 2nd Biennial Engineering Mathematics Conference in Sydney with the help of student travel grants from the New Zealand Mathematical Society. Participating in conferences and workshops is no doubt important as an opportunity to meet other researchers working in the same field and those from a wider scientific community. For my research it was particularly useful since mathematical modelling involves a great deal of information from other disciplines such as engineering, geosciences, and so on. So far I have travelled to 11 conferences and 2 MISG workshops in New Zealand and Australia, most of them was supported by the New Zealand Mathematical Society.
I am very grateful to the council of NZMS for supporting my participation and giving me a chance to present and discuss my results at these conferences.
I would like to see Mathematics Departments in New Zealand supporting the PhD student conference attendance as a matter of their policy (as it is of NZMS, VUW Mathematics Department, and Australian universities.)
APPLICATION FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE Please fill in where appropriate Name of
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Type of assistance sought Amount (a) Student Travel Grant
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Please describe your reasons for making this application and the plans you have . for spending the grant if your application is successful: . ................................................................................... . ................................................................................ . ................................................................................... . ................................................................................ . ................................................................................... . ................................................................................ . ................................................................................... . ................................................................................ . ................................................................................... . ................................................................................ . ................................................................................... . ................................................................................ . ................................................................................... . ................................................................................ . ................................................................................... $ . ................................................................................ Please list any supporting documents or other evidence (attached to your application): ................................................................................... ......................................................................... ...... ................................................................................... ................................................................................ ................................................................................... ................................................................................ Supporting statement from supervisor or Head of Department (for student applicants only): ................................................................................... ................................................................................ ................................................................................... ............................................................................... ................................................................................... ............................................................................... ................................................................................... ................................................................................ ................................................................................... ................................................................................ ................................................................................... ................................................................................ ................................................................................... ................................................................................ ................................................................................... ............................................................................... ................................................................................... ............................................................................... ................................................................................... ............................................................................... Please send this application (and any supporting documents or other evidence) to: Dr Stephen Joe, Secretary, N.Z. Mathematical Society, Department of Mathematics, The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton. The NZMS Council normally considers these applications at its meetings in July and November each year, but applications may be considered at other times in exceptional circumstances.