Virtual Forum for Knowledge Exchange 

in Mathematical Sciences V-KEMS

V-KEMS

The International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS), Isaac Newton Institute (INI), Newton Gateway to Mathematics and Innovate UK KTN have worked with various representatives from the mathematical sciences community to develop a Virtual Forum for Knowledge Exchange in the Mathematical Sciences (V-KEMS). The main aim is to identify a range of virtual approaches that will help address challenges from business and industry, the third sector, and other groups outside academia. These challenges may be long-standing or may have arisen directly as a consequence of the present disruption to UK society.

Many initiatives are already taking place to help provide infrastructure and resources to clinicians and others who are urgently helping to model the current pandemic. Where appropriate, we offer direct support to this activity.

However, we are also able to identify broader areas for input from the mathematical sciences community – for example tackling issues related to food supply and logistics etc. The mechanisms for delivery include virtual study groups (VSGs), webinars and the formation of virtual teams of mathematicians. The latter aim to rapidly clarify, formalise and triage the problems/challenges from business, industry, the public sector and third sectors, whether they are directly associated with the COVID-19 virus or of a wider, more longstanding, nature.

KE Team of the Year 2021

V-KEMS has been awarded “KE Team of the Year” at the annual PraxisAuril KE Awards 2021.

PraxisAuril is the UK’s professional association for Knowledge Exchange practitioners, with its range of annual awards representing the highest accolade of industry recognition within the sector.

The 2021 virtual “black tie” awards ceremony took place on the afternoon of Thursday 20 November, with the 17 shortlisted finalists picked from a pool of 60 overall entrants being invited to attend. Each finalist was invited to give a short summary of their group’s achievements before the winners in each of the six categories were announced. 

V-KEMS was awarded “KE Team of the Year” by Simon Bond (Innovation Director, SETsquared Partnership), beating two other candidates to the title. The Awards were sponsored by UKRI, the UK’s research and innovation funding body. Matt Butchers from the Innovate UK KTN accepted the award on behalf of all the V-KEMS partners.

V-KEMS was set up in March 2020 and is a joint project shared between the Newton Gateway, INI, the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences and the Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN).

It has helped to identify a range of virtual approaches that will help address challenges from business and industry, the third sector, and other groups outside academia”. These challenges cover both those specific to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and those which were already present within knowledge exchange prior to 2020.

Visit the PraxisAuril website for a full list of categories and winners and the V-KEMS finalist video below explains what we have been working on. See also the PraxisAuril blog post by Joanna and Matt.

Activities

A number of activities have been considered and at this stage three main activities are taking place:

Forum Partners

Those involved in taking V-KEMS activities forward are:

Contact Us

The activities suggested here are what V-KEMS believe are required and achievable at the current time.  If you have an idea that doesn’t fit into these categories, then please contact us using the details below and we can discuss this further.