Heidelberg Laureate Forum

My name is Julia Jansson and I am a PhD student at the division of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at Chalmers University of Technology. This past week I was selected as one of 200 young researchers in mathematics and computer science to participate in the 10th Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF). During this week I have had the chance to meet laureates in the disciplines: recipients of the Abel Prize, ACM A.M. Turing Award, ACM Prize in Computing, Fields Medal, IMU Abacus Medal and Nevanlinna Prize. 

The most memorable part of the week was to met all the other young researchers, who are from all over the world, in many different subjects and from undergraduate to postdoc level. We had fun events like a Bavarian evening where everyone had traditional clothes from their home country. It was also very nice to see the beautiful town Heidelberg!

One highlight for me was to meet the mathematicians László Lovász and Avi Widgerson who got the Abel Prize in 2021. They have been role models for me and it was inspiring to listen to meet them in person. Further I had the chance to meet Daniel Spielman who won the Nevanlinna prize in 2010. I was especially inspired by his presentation technique and his advice regarding academia and also life in general. 

There were also some interesting panels during the week. It was very inspiring to listen to the discussion with Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck, Maryna Viazovska and Ingrid Daubechies, who gave some perspective on being a female mathematician. I also really enjoyed the panel titled “Why do so many people hate mathematics?” where László Lovász, Hugo Duminil-Copin, Yael Tauman Kalai and Robert Tarjan discussed the topic.

Now I am on my way back to Gothenburg with new ideas and energy for the future!