News
September 2026: Professor Luitgard Veraart Appointed Head of Department
The Department of Mathematics is delighted to announce that Professor Luitgard Veraart is our new Head of Department.
Luitgard brings extensive academic leadership and internationally recognised research expertise to the role. She holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and joined LSE in 2010, following academic positions at Princeton University’s Bendheim Center for Finance and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Her research lies at the intersection of financial mathematics, risk management and financial networks, exploring areas including energy market modelling, systemic risk in financial systems and the ways in which institutions are connected through financial networks.
Luitgard’s contributions to the field have received international recognition. In 2019, she was co-winner of the Adams Prize, awarded for achievements in the Mathematics of Networks. Her wider academic leadership includes serving as Programme Director of the SIAM Activity Group on Financial Mathematics and Engineering, alongside editorial roles with several leading mathematical finance journals.
Having been part of the LSE Mathematics community for more than 15 years, Luitgard brings a wealth of research, teaching and leadership experience to her new position. We look forward to this next chapter for the Department under her leadership.
Please join us in congratulating Professor Luitgard Veraart on her appointment as Head of Department.
2026: Professor Amol Sasane Shares Research Across Europe
The Department is delighted to highlight the recent research activity of Professor Amol Sasane, who presented versions of his talk, “(Un)faithfulness of some flat modules in analysis”, at a series of international seminars, colloquia and conferences across Europe.
Amol presented his research at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences Analysis Seminar at Lund University, Sweden, the Bernoulli Mathematics Institute Colloquium at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, the Mathematics Colloquium at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and the Topological Methods in Functional Analysis and Measure Theory (FAME) conference at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland.
The research brings together ideas from algebra and analysis to explore the mathematical concepts of flatness and faithful flatness. These concepts, which have their roots in work by mathematician Jean-Pierre Serre in the 1950s, have since become important in modern algebra.
In his talk, Amol used examples from classical analysis to investigate when these mathematical properties hold and what happens when they do not. The findings have connections to wider mathematical questions, including the stabilisation problem in control theory, while his work involving Hardy spaces provides an answer to an open question posed by mathematician Alban Quadrat in 2005.
The research is also connected to Amol's paper, “On the faithful flatness of some modules arising in analysis”, published in the Nagoya Mathematical Journal, Volume 261, (2026) Paper No. e19.
Amol is continuing to develop this area of research, with a recent follow-up article, “On the flatness of the Bergman space as a module over the Hardy algebra”, available as an arXiv preprint.
Alongside this work, Amol's research covers a range of topics across analysis and related areas of mathematics, with publications appearing in journals including Advances in Mathematics, Annales Henri Poincaré, Studia Mathematica and Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Physik.
July 2026: Dr Ahmad Abdi Publishes Three New Research Papers
The department is delighted to celebrate the recent publication success of Dr Ahmad Abdi, whose latest research has resulted in three papers being accepted for publication across leading mathematics journals.
Working with collaborators from institutions around the world, Dr Abdi's research explores a range of topics in combinatorics, graph theory and optimisation. The accepted papers include:
Lower bounds for cube-ideal set-systems, with Gérard Cornuéjols, Dadush and Dalirrooyfard, to appear in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society (2026)
Integral bases, perfect matchings, and the Petersen graph, with Silina, to appear in Mathematical Programming (2026)
Strongly connected orientations and integer lattices, with Gérard Cornuéjols, Liu and Silina, to appear in Mathematics of Operations Research (2026)
These publications were supported in part by Dr Abdi's EPSRC New Investigator Award and highlight ongoing research within the department that advances fundamental questions in discrete mathematics and optimisation.
July 2026: Class of 2026 Graduation
Congratulations to our Class of 2026! We were delighted to celebrate the achievements of our undergraduate, MSc Financial Mathematics and PhD graduates. Thank you for being part of our Department of Mathematics community, and we wish you all the very best for the future.
July 2026: Abraham Prize
The Abraham Prize was established by the Department of Mathematics and Joseph Abraham's family in his memory following his passing in 2015. The prize is awarded to the student who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in their studies on the MSc Financial Mathematics programme.
We are delighted to announce that this year's winner is Clemente Esquinas Coves. Congratulations on this well deserved award and on your exceptional academic achievement.
July 2026: Wynne-Roberts Prize
The Wynne-Roberts Prize, provided by the University of London Convocation, is awarded for the best performance in first and second year Mathematics courses.
We are delighted to announce that this year's winner is Siqi Chen. Congratulations on this outstanding achievement and recognition of the exceptional academic excellence demonstrated during the early years of study.
July 2026: Offord Prize
The Offord Prize is awarded annually in recognition of outstanding performance in the BSc programmes.
We are delighted to announce that this year's winner is Mateusz Mikolajczak. Congratulations on this exceptional achievement and on receiving this well deserved award.
July 2026: Farr Prize
The Farr Prize is awarded to the student who achieves the best performance in final year examinations for a BSc degree in Mathematics or Statistics.
We are delighted to announce that this year's winner is Nicholas Scotney. Congratulations on this outstanding achievement and recognition of your academic excellence.
July 2026: Gibson Voluntary Work Award
The Gibson Voluntary Work Award recognises and supports Mathematics students whose voluntary work has made a positive contribution to society.
This year's award has been presented to Yunus Qayyum. Congratulations on this well deserved recognition of your commitment to making a difference in the wider community.
July 2026: Gibson Citizenship Prize
The Gibson Citizenship Prize recognises a student who has demonstrated strong academic achievement while making a meaningful contribution to society and the LSE community.
We are delighted to announce that this year's winner is Aditya Ramrakhani. Congratulations on this well deserved award, which reflects not only academic excellence but also a positive and lasting impact beyond the classroom.
July 2026: LSE Mathematics Researchers Present at the Bachelier World Congress
Seven members of the Department of Mathematics' Financial Mathematics group recently presented their latest research at the 13th World Congress of the Bachelier Finance Society, held at the University of Bologna, Italy, from 29 June to 3 July 2026. The congress brings together leading academics, practitioners and researchers from around the world to showcase advances in quantitative finance and financial mathematics.
The Department was proudly represented by Professor Luitgard Veraart, who delivered a plenary lecture, alongside colleagues Ofelia Bonesini, Christoph Czichowsky, Jun Cheng, Albina Danilova, Pavel Gapeev and Markus Karl, who each presented research spanning topics including stochastic volatility, algorithmic trading, market impact, financial networks, risk modelling and differential equations in finance.
The conference provided an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with the international mathematical finance community, highlight the Department's research and engage with the latest developments across the discipline.
Congratulations to all of our researchers for representing the Department at this renowned international conference.
June 2026: Faculty Highlights at SIAM OP26
Earlier this month, Dr Neil Olver and Dr Ahmad Abdi from the LSE Department of Mathematics participated in the SIAM Conference on Optimization (OP26) in Edinburgh.
The annual SIAM conference is a cornerstone event for the field, bringing together mathematicians, operational researchers, computer scientists, engineers, software developers, and industry practitioners. It provides an ideal environment for exchanging innovative ideas and addressing the most significant challenges in modern optimization.
Our faculty members played a prominent role in the proceedings:
Dr Neil Olver delivered a talk titled, ‘Mixed Integer Optimization: Convexifications and Algorithms.’
Dr Ahmad Abdi organised a two-session minisymposium focused on ‘Recent Advances in Packing and Covering, Combinatorial Optimisation, and Beyond.’
You can find out more about their sessions and the wider conference programme here.
June 2026: Dr David O’Sullivan Wins Student Voice Champion 2026
We are pleased to announce that our colleague, Dr David O’Sullivan, has been awarded the LSESU Teaching Award for Student Voice Champion 2026.
The LSESU Teaching Awards—organised in partnership with the Eden Centre—recognises the contributions of academic staff across the School. This award highlights David’s dedication to student engagement and his commitment to ensuring that student feedback informs our departmental practice.
This is a well-deserved recognition for David and reflects the progress we are continuing to make as a department.
Congratulations, David, on this achievement. We look forward to seeing your continued work in this area.
June 2026: Can You Negotiate a Global Climate Treaty?
As part of this year’s #LSEFestival: How to Save the Planet, we are hosting an interactive workshop that puts you in the driving seat of global climate politics.
Securing Climate Treaties as a Game invites participants to step into a fast-changing world of strategy, negotiation, and high-stakes decision-making. Working in teams, you will navigate the complex balance between national interests and international cooperation to protect vital climate accords.
It is a fantastic opportunity to test your strategic skills and gain firsthand insight into the challenges of global policy-making.
Event Details
Date: Friday 19 June
Time: 12:00 – 14:00
Location: The Marshall Building, LSE
Spaces are limited for this session, so please ensure you book early to secure your place.
Explore the event and book your spot here.
June 2026: Professor Gérard Cornuéjols at LSE
The Department was delighted to welcome Professor Gérard Cornuéjols from Carnegie Mellon University for a seminar exploring his latest research into computing nonnegative dyadic solutions to systems of linear equations.
The talk provided a deep dive into sophisticated algorithmic refinements that significantly improve solution sparsity. Professor Cornuéjols supported his findings with compelling computational experiments across random 0-1 systems, MIPLIB instances, and perfect matching covering problems.
This research is a collaborative effort with Anthony Karahalios and Vrishabh Patil.
A huge thank you to Professor Cornuéjols for delivering such an insightful and engaging seminar to our community.
June 2026: Celebrating Excellence - Vanessa Madu
We are delighted to share some wonderful news! Massive congratulations to Vanessa Madu, a Guest Teacher in our Department, who has been named STEM Educator of the Year by SheCanCode.
Vanessa has been recognised for her remarkable dedication to fostering inclusive classrooms. Her teaching philosophy empowers students to explore complex mathematical ideas with confidence, removing the fear often associated with the subject.
Beyond her work at LSE, Vanessa is a passionate science communicator. Whether she is lecturing at the Royal Institution or inspiring underrepresented students at summer schools, she consistently brings the "magic" of mathematics to life.
Read more about Vanessa’s achievement today.
June 2026: Blog - From the Wet Lab to Complex Systems
In our latest blog post, we sit down with Dr Jacob Calvert, a visiting fellow in the LSE Department of Mathematics. Dr Calvert shares his fascinating career path, detailing his unique transition from bioengineering to complex systems research.
In this insightful interview, he discusses his current work on emergent behaviour and Markov chains, offering a fresh perspective on academic communication and highlighting how visual storytelling can transform the way we share scientific ideas.
Read the full interview here.
May 2026: Sam Murphy Receives Excellence in Econometrics Award
We are pleased to congratulate Sam Murphy on receiving the Excellence in Econometrics Award for Outstanding Knowledge Sharing and Excellent Participation in the Discussion Forum during Winter/Spring Term 2026.
This recognition celebrates Sam’s dedication, engagement and contribution to academic discussion throughout the term. We are proud to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our students and the commitment they bring to their studies and wider academic community.
Congratulations to Sam on this fantastic and well-deserved achievement.
May 2026: Celebrating Excellence in Teaching
Our department is delighted to celebrate the achievements of several outstanding class teachers who have been recognised with teaching awards across the School.
Within the Department, Vanessa Madu and Jared White were awarded the Departmental New Teacher Prize, while the Eden Centre Award winners were Niccolo’ Salvatori and Michael Yasemides.
We are also proud to recognise Rowland Bennett, Arthur Lloyd-Philips, Mihir Neve, Laurence O’Toole and Tony Whelan, who were highly commended for their contributions to teaching and student support.
These awards reflect the dedication, passion and excellence our teachers bring to the student experience at LSE. Congratulations to all on this well-deserved recognition.
May 2026: The 19th Colloquia in Combinatorics
We were delighted to welcome participants to the 19th Colloquia in Combinatorics. The 2026 programme featured twelve expert talks covering a diverse range of topics, continuing our tradition of bringing together leading researchers in the field.
The event remained committed to accessibility, with free registration available for participants without access to institutional travel support.
Organised by colleagues from LSE and QMUL, and generously supported by the LMS, BCC and partners, the colloquia brought together researchers and academics for a successful and engaging programme of discussions and collaboration.
For further enquiries, contact maths.research@lse.ac.uk.
April 2026: Dr Neil Olver Co-organises Prestigious Workshop in Bonn
Last week, Neil Olver co-organised a high-profile workshop at the Hausdorff Institute for Mathematics (HIM) in Bonn. This event served as a follow-up to the intensive three-month Trimester Programme on 'Discrete Optimization' held in 2021.
The workshop reunited international experts to explore recent breakthroughs in combinatorial optimization and algorithmic game theory. Alongside his organising duties, Neil presented a talk on "Thin Trees for Structured Families," sharing his latest research into complex network conjectures. These HIM programmes are vital for fostering global collaboration, building upon foundations laid during previous residencies to tackle major mathematical challenges. Find out more here.
March 2026: Women in Mathematics - Laura Palagi
We recently welcomed Professor Laura Palagi to the Department for her seminar, "Optimising the Path: Bridges, Bounds, and Belief in the Math-Engineering Intersection."
Her talk highlighted the vital roles of resilience and confidence when navigating fields where women remain underrepresented. It was incredibly impactful for our students to learn from a scholar who has forged a distinguished career within a traditionally male-dominated discipline.
Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the event’s success. We remain committed to fostering spaces that celebrate women in mathematics. If you missed the session, the recording is now available on YouTube here.
March 2026: William Ellis School Visit to LSE
Earlier this month, we were delighted to welcome Year 11 pupils from Camden’s William Ellis School to LSE.
Dr Galit Ashkenazi-Golan continued her vital outreach for the Department of Mathematics, delivering an engaging session on the advantages of university-level maths. She highlighted diverse career prospects and provided a fascinating introduction to her specialism, Game Theory.
The visit included a campus tour led by our Student Ambassadors, offering a first-hand glimpse into university life, alongside an introductory talk from the Student Recruitment Team. It was a pleasure to host such an inquisitive group; we hope the day offered valuable insight into higher education.
March 2026: Public Lecture with Professor Ehud Shapiro
We were honoured to host Professor Ehud Shapiro for his public lecture, "Grassroots: Shaping the Digital Realm and Through It – The World". It was a privilege to explore the "New Digital Enlightenment" and discuss how rethinking the internet can reshape our global power structures.
The energy in the room and the depth of the Q&A session highlighted just how vital these conversations are for the future of technology and governance.
If you missed the live event, you can now catch up on the full discussion via the LSE YouTube channel, and read the pre-event blog here.
January 2026: Professor Honoured in Inaugural Fellowship
Last week, the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences (AcadMathSci) marked a major milestone for UK science by appointing its first 100 Fellows.
We are delighted to announce that Professor June Barrow-Green, Visiting Professor in the LSE Department of Mathematics, has been named in this inaugural cohort.
Joining a distinguished group including Fields Medal winners and industry pioneers, June is recognised for her leadership in the history of mathematics and her work regarding the representation of women in the field.
Congratulations to June on this well-deserved appointment!
Read more here.