The second annual Young KWG day took place on Friday the 10th of October! The event took place in the central library in Utrecht at Neude, a beautiful location in the heart of the city. It was a vibrant event with approximately 35 participants from the whole country and different universities, from PhD candidates up to Assistant Professors, and a couple of master students and mathematicians from companies.

On the Young KWG day we provided all participants with a place to network, be inspired, and learn. We had a keynote lecture by Francien Bossema (Postdoc at Leiden University), whose research focused on X-ray tomography for cultural heritage, and who collaborated with the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) and the Getty Museum (LA). Currently Francien is a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, on the topic of science communication of quantum research.

In the afternoon we organized a carousel themed ‘mathematicians in the wild’. In this session we discussed diverse topics of mathematics outside the academic walls (e.g., making the step from research to industry, science communication, and mathematicians in governance and policy). Marcel Kouwenhoven and Bart Zonneveld from BiBB discussed with the participants about how they can be involved with governance and policy and presented an overview of the activities organized by BiBB. Martijn Gösgens, who is a postdoc researcher at the CWI and a board member of Young KWG, shared some best practices if you want to develop simulations and animations. Mark Roest, chair of the Innovation Committee of Platform Wiskunde Nederland and director of VORtech, discussed with the participants about the innovation landscape in the Netherlands and how to build a network with companies. Last but not least, Nicos Starreveld, chair of Young KWG and responsible for science communication and outreach at Platform Wiskunde Nederland, gave an overview of the possibilities to be involved with science communication.

We closed the day with a session by Gunther Cornelissen from Utrecht University about the various choices researchers are called to make during their academic career.

It was a very nice event and we were happy to get to meet new mathematicians and chat with them. The event was also a great opportunity to discuss our future plans, which will be announced soon. Hence, stay tuned and follow us by becoming a member of the KWG and by following us via LinkedIn.