Diego Millan Berdasco

About me

Since September 2022, I am a Lecturer in Mathematics at Universidad Camilo José Cela (UCJC).

Previously, I was invited to lecture at Universidad de La Habana and held a postdoctoral position at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) funded by EPSRC. I completed my doctoral studies at QMUL under the supervision of Dr Matt Fayers. My journey into mathematics research has focused so far in the interplay between combinatorics and algebra in the context of modular representations of symmetric groups and Iwahori-Hecke algebras. In particular, the topic of my thesis was the decomposition numbers of Iwahori-Hecke algebras.

During my doctoral studies I visited Dr Conchita Martinez at Universidad de Zaragoza with the aim to study the cohomological structure of Specht modules in blocks of weight 3. I completed my undergraduate studies at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), with a semester-long study visit at University of Bristol.

Here you can find my CV (updated September 2022) and my webpage (outdated) at QMUL School of Mathematical Sciences.

A not so up to date pic enjoying sunny holidays

On Hispanic surnames

My full name is composed of three words: The first one is the name (i.e. Diego), whereas the other two form the surname (i.e. Millan Berdasco). In particular, Millan is not part of a compound name nor a middle name, the latter being an alien concept in Spain for the most part.

According to HISPAGEN (Association of Hispanic Genealogy), the adoption of two surnames (traditionally taking the first surname of the father followed by the first surname of the mother) started in the Iberian peninsula in the 16th century among the nobility, becoming increasingly popular throughout the 19th century until its official adoption in 1889 in the first ever Spanish Civil code.

This means that official names from those of Hispanic origin usually contain two surnames, and not a hyphenated two-word term as a surname. To those unaware of all this, please remember it when referencing, introducing or filling official documents! Otherwise, You might be unintentionally contributing to never ending confusions in official documentation and automated research indexes.