TOPOLOGY AND BIOLOGY

ON ZEEMAN’S CENTENARY

16-17 December 2025 at the Warwick Mathematics Institute

This centenary conference celebrates the interdisciplinary research curiosity exemplified by Sir Christopher Zeeman.

Zeeman worked in many different areas, and we address four: geometric topology, analysis and applications of singularities, impact of mathematics in biology, epidemiology and government policy, and finally the communication of mathematics to a wider audience.

This event has financial support from the London Mathematical Society, the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research and the Warwick Mathematics Institute.

Speakers

Heather Harrington

David Rand

Minhyong Kim

Ian Stewart

Sander Kupers

Ulrike Tillmann

Mark Powell

Reidun Twarock

Registration and accommodation

For registration, please go to the Mathematics Research Centre registration page.

If you wish to reserve accommodation on campus, please indicate your requirements on the registation webpage.

Financial support for travel or accommodation is available for PhD students and Early Career Researchers.

Draft Schedule

(Titles and Abstracts)

Day 1

10.00-10.30 Coffee and Registration11.00-11.15 Welcome11.15-12.15 David Rand: Zeeman in mathematics and biology12.15-14.00 Lunch14.00-15.00 Heather Harrington: Topological data analysis for multiscale biology15.00-15.30 Tea15.30-16.30 Ian Stewart (open lecture) : Zeeman's early work on catastrophe theory16.45-17.45 Minhyong Kim (open lecture): Modernism and the mathematical worldview17.45-19.15 Celebration drinks reception19.30 Dinner

Day 2

9.30-10.30 Mark Powell: Unknotting theorems10.30-11.00 Coffee11.00-12.00 Reidun Twarock Viruses Under the Mathematical Microscope: Viral geometry as a key to understanding viral infections12.00-13.30 Lunch13.45-14.45 Sander Kupers: Zeeman's conjecture15.00-16.00 Ulrike Tilmann: From topology to data science to (new) invariants of quiver representations16.00-16.30 Tea

All events are in the Zeeman Building, University of Warwick.

Registration is in the Mathematics Research Centre, room B1.37

Talks are in room B3.03, except the open lectures in MS.02.

Coffee, tea, lunch and wine reception are in the Common Room.

The dinner will be in Radcliffe or Scarman nearby (5-10 minute walk; reservation required through the registration webpage).

Thanks to the London Mathematical Society, the Heilbronn Institute for Mathematical Research and the Warwick Mathematics Institute for financial support.

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