Season’s Greetings

Dear colleagues, friends, authors and readers of ECMI blog,

Another year marked with COVID-19 is almost behind us. Although the vaccines provided temporary relief and hope for return to normal life, we are still forced to adapt to the new-normal. During the pandemic the role of science became more clear and important in the eyes of governments and general public and we can be proud of the role mathematicians play in different advisory bodies and research teams. 

ECMI continued with on-line activities in 2021, trying to keep the spirit and level of engagement in difficult circumstances, in particular our networking efforts and student-related activities. Our conference happen on-line, due to the efforts of the Bergische Universität Wuppertal and attracted more than 350 participants. During the conference we established a closer cooperation with Asia-Pacific Consortium for Mathematics in Industry, a group of industrial mathematicians from India and a group from Africa. The Anile and Wacker prize winners were announced at the conference and the proceeding of the conference is in preparation. 

Editorial activities were focused on Journal of Mathematics in Industry, in particular the special issue devoted to COVID modelling is published with 10 papers. Two new books also appeared in the ECMI Springer series. The annual report for 2021 will be available soon on our blog. Our SIGs continued their activities mainly through EU funded project and on-line seminars, while the Digital Twin SIG organized Kaiserslautern Applied and Industrial Mathematics Days. 

Although Modelling Week was cancelled, we had the second ECMI Student Competition on modelling, this year on Covid related topics. Several groups submitted their reports and the two winning reports are invited to submit their papers to our Journal. Two new teaching nodes are approved and we have two new members of ECMI from 2021. 

A couple of European Study Groups with Industry are organized during this summer followed by some virtual ESGs. An important development of this year is the new repository, Mathematics in Industry Reports, developed by Cambridge University Press in close cooperation with ECMI. 

ECMI is continuing its activities and cooperation with other organizations like EMS, through Committee for Applied and Interdisciplinary Activities, ICIAM and EU-MATHS-IN for the benefit of mathematical community in Europe. 

Hoping that 2022 will be significantly different and easier for all of us, I would like to encourage you to continue following our blog, to support ECMI activities and to contact us with new ideas and initiatives. The main strength of our consortium is the spirit of cooperation and diversity across Europe and we will do our best to continue with activities for students, joint projects with industry and providing networking opportunities. 

Have a wonderful holiday season and a very successful and happy 2022!

Natasa Krejic, ECMI President