Sessions I offer for schools and public talks:
- Enormous numbers and where to find them – an accessible lecture on gigantic numbers in ancient mythology and modern logic.
- Knot Theory interactive masterclass – I have versions of this suitable for beginners (KS3) and for more advanced (e.g. A-level) students.
- Nim and Nimbers – an interactive masterclass on game theory and mathematical strategy, suitable for audiences of all ages.
- Unpicking Pick’s Theorem – an interactive masterclass (ideally requiring computer access for all students, working in pairs) about Pick’s theorem.
- The Maths that Makes the Modern World – a talk, suitable for A-level students, about some of the mathematics behind industry and the internet.
- Infinity and the Limits of Maths – a talk, suitable for A-level students, about infinity and the continuum hypothesis.
- The Science of Geometry and the Art of Optimisation – a talk, suitable for GCSE students or above, about the mathematics of optimisation.
- The Platonic Solids’ Lesser Known Cousins – a talk, suitable for all ages, about the the weird wide world of polyhedra.
- Counting Handshakes – a workshop on triangular numbers for primary school students
- I have various talks suitable for mixed mathematical audiences (e.g. undergraduate maths societies).
Numberphile
Click here for a playlist of my appearances on the YouTube channel Numberphile.
Selected Public Appearances
For more technical presentations, see below.
• Public Lecture on The unreasonable effectiveness of logic on 18th September 2018 at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh as part of the conference From permutation groups to model theory: a workshop inspired by the interests of Dugald Macpherson, on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
• Talk at ESOF (European Science Open Forum, 26th July 2016) on Exploring the Turing Myth, jointly with mathematician Roberto Natalini, playwright & director Maria Elisabetta Marelli, science writer Francesca Riccioni, and cartoonist Tuono Pettinato.
• Three talks at the Training Partnership (now Education in Action) at the UCL institute of Education, on 25th November 2015, 15th December 2015, and 3rd March 2016.
Other General Audience Talks
• I regularly give talks and masterclasses on various aspects of mathematics at schools around Yorkshire.
• Annually since 2011, workshops on Knot Maths to school-students aged 13-14 as part of the Royal Institution Mathematics Masterclasses in Leeds.
• Annually since 2009, Knot Theory masterclass to A-level students at Leeds Festival of Science and/or Leeds University’s Reach For Excellence Summer-schools.
• Intermittently since 2013, a workshop on Pick’s Theorem for sixth-formers. (First given jointly with Matt Daws in 2013.)
• University of the Third Age talk (June 2025) in Bury, on Enormous Numbers and Where to Find Them
• University of the Third Age talk (June 2019) in Bury, on The Algorithm That Rules The World
• Yorkshire Branch of the Mathematics Association talk (20th October 2018) on The Platonic Solids Lesser Known Cousins
• Café Scientifique talk (May 2015) in Headingley (Leeds), on The Science of Geometry and the Art of Optimisation
• University of York Mathematics Society talk (April 2014) on Gödel, Incompleteness, and Unprovable Theorems
• WP Milne lecture at Leeds Festival of Science (March 2013) on The Maths that Makes the Modern World.
• Institute of Mathematics and its Applications Seminar (December 2013) at University of Central Lancashire.
• Royal Institution Scottish Mathematics Masterclass Day at Edinburgh University (June 2015), on Nim and Nimbers
• Talk at the West Yorkshire Astronomical Society (November 2011), about Infinity and Hugh Woodin’s Ultimate L.
• Maths Special edition of The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast, along with Ian Stewart and Brian Cox, and hosted by Alok Jha (March 2011). Recording here.
• Interview with Dan Damon on World Update on the BBC World Service, about unprovability and set theory (November 2010).
• Interview with Neil Denny on Little Atoms on Resonance FM (December 2010).
• Café Scientifique talk (October 2007), on e and transcendental numbers.
• Interviewed on Channel 4’s radio show The Tube (February 2007), discussing Goldbach’s Conjecture with Alex James (of Blur fame) in front of an audience of screaming teenage rock fans. (Write-up here: “Dr Elwes was a total dude. He looked like he could have been in one of the bands we had on.”)
Research Presentations
• British Logic Colloquium keynote talk on Random Graphs in Logic and Network Science, online, 2nd September 2021. Video.
• Landscape Colloquium on Concrete Incompleteness, University of Bath, 23rd November 2018
• Research Seminar on Schelling models in mathematics, social science, physics, and computer science, Microsoft Labs (Boston, USA), 7th December 2016
• Workshop on the Model Theory of Finite & Pseudofinite Structures, University of Leeds, 29th July 2016
• Mathematics Seminar, University of Essex, 24th April 2014
• Interdisciplinary Seminar, University of Essex, 24th April 2014
• Logic Seminar, University of Leeds, 20th October 2010, on Concrete Incompleteness. Slides and blogpost here.
• Mathematical Logic Seminar, Université de Lyon, 18th May 2006
• Graduiertenkolleg Mathematische Logik und Anwendungen, Albert-Ludwigs Universität, Freiburg, 8th May 2006
• Workshop On Finite Models, Université de Paris VII, 27th March 2006
• Workshop On Finite And Algorithmic Model Theory, University of Durham, 9-13th January 2006
• Mathematical Logic Seminar, University of Oxford, 18th November 2005
• Mathematical Logic Seminar, University of Leeds, 26th January 2005
• British Mathematical Colloquium, Queen’s University Belfast, 5-8th April, 2004
Richard Elwes - mathematician and writer 