Anna Nagurney, the Eugene M. Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies delivered the keynote talk, “Networks, Supply Chains, and Variational Inequalities,” at the Mathematics for the Real World Conference, on Aug. 26 in Odense, Denmark.

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The conference was held simultaneously in Odense—at the Danish Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Southern Denmark—and in Kyiv, Ukraine at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). It was organized by the International Centre for Mathematics in Ukraine (ICMU) in Kyiv and the Centre for Quantum Mathematics in Odense.

Nagurney’s presentation discussed the Braess Paradox, and supply chain agricultural and food security research conducted with Kyiv School of Economics scholars and with her Isenberg School of Management doctoral student Dana Hassani, made possible through the global partnership established between UMass Amherst and KSE. She also spoke on how to make scientific impact by engaging with the media and policy and decision-makers.

The other keynote speaker for the conference was Maryna Viazovska, the second female to receive the Fields Medal, considered to be the Nobel Prize in Mathematics, and the scientific director and co-founder of ICMU. Nagurney later participated in a panel discussion with Viazovska, along with Anna Lysyanskaya of Brown University, Jørgen Ellegaard Andersen, the director for the Centre for Quantum Mathematics, in Odense, and with panelists in Kyiv.

ICMU was established in the summer of 2022 by a group of mathematicians of Ukrainian origin with the belief that science and research would play a crucial role in the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war.

Participants at the conference included practitioners, academics, and students, with the conference’s themes including the use of math in biology, finance, data science, and AI and machine learning, as well as cryptography.

More information on the conference can be found on the ICMU website.