Author: FoNS News

The Lasting Equation: A personal tribute to Professor Klaus Roth

As this year sees the centenary of the Silesian-born academic Klaus Roth’s birth, his niece Cléa Daridan shares a personal tribute. She remembers the UK’s first Fields Medalist not only for the excellence of his contribution to number theory but also for the man he was, having devoted his entire career to teaching Mathematics at Imperial College London and inspiring hundreds of students through his legacy. The Roth scholarship scheme, funded by the Department of Mathematics, was named after Klaus Friedrich Roth.

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The rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in Global Biodiversity Negotiations

Michel Valette, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Centre for Environmental Policy and the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, and Gail Sucharitakul,  Research Postgraduate at the  Centre for Environmental Policy, provide their critical reflections from the 12th session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES-12) held in Manchester in February 2026. 

Well-preserved dipterocarp forests on the outskirts of a rice plantation of a territory managed by Indigenous communities of the Malaysian uplands. Low logging pressure in these areas assured the preservation of endangered plant and animals.
Well-preserved dipterocarp forests on the outskirts of a rice plantation of a territory managed by Indigenous communities of the Malaysian uplands. Low logging pressure in these areas assured the preservation of endangered plant and animals. Credit: Michel Valette

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Women at Imperial: Dr Mary Matthews

As part of Women at Imperial week, we asked Professor Mary Matthews some questions around her proudest career achievement so far, her role models and what advice she wishes she’d received earlier in her career journey.

Mary is an Associate Professor in Ultrafast Laser Science investigating attosecond science and chirality at the quantum level in the Department of Physics and a Royal Society University Research Fellow.

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‘Scientific research is nothing without the ability to communicate it to your peers’

Dr Simon Foster, Outreach Manager within the Faculty of Natural Sciences, talks about Imperial’s recent outreach activities through the India STEMathon and the passion and intelligence of young people that he witnessed on the trip.

Group photo of India STEMathon 2025
India STEMathon 2025 group photo in Bengaluru, India

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How to win Traitors (using game theory)

Following the dramatic series finale of Celebrity Traitors, we speak to Dr Dante Kalise from the Department of Mathematics at Imperial College London, as he unpicks the treacherous tactics used in the game. He explains how the Traitors used game theory to betray their way to the top, and how the Faithfuls tried to unmask them using strategic deduction – a mathematical deep-dive into the art of betrayal.

Dante Kalise

Spoilers for the final of Celebrity Traitors below.

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Wandering searchers and supermarket queues: mathematically exploring how cells move resources

PhD student José Giral Barajas explains how he is using queueing theory to understand how cells move and accumulate materials.

Supermarket queue. Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

 

Imagine you need to deliver a package to someone in a crowded place, but you have no idea where they are. No matter how determined you are to take a specific path, the constant collisions with all the people around you will force you to change direction most of the time. The path you take in your search for the recipient becomes effectively random. This simple picture is a helpful way to think about how cells move materials.

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