LMS Undergraduate Summer Schools

The LMS Undergraduate Summer Schools are annual two-week courses, which are held every Summer at a UK university. The aim is to introduce modern mathematics to the best UK undergraduates who will enter their final year the following Autumn, and encourage them to think about an academic career in maths. The LMS Undergraduate Summer School consists of a combination of short lecture courses with problem-solving sessions and colloquium-style talks from leading mathematicians. 50 places are available to students per year.

The LMS Early Career Research Committee is responsible for the overall management and funding of the LMS Undergraduate Summer Schools. 

Please email any questions about the LMS Undergraduate Summer Summer Schools to lmssummerschool@lms.ac.uk


2024 LMS Undergraduate Summer School - University of Essex, 15 - 26 July 2024

Course Lecturers Colloquium Speakers
Anne-Sophie Kaloghiros (Brunel) Lara Alcock (Loughborough)
Kevin Buzzard (Imperial) Emma McCoy (LSE)
Andy Hone (Kent) Paula Lins (Lincoln)
Zoe Wyatt (Cambridge) Jonathan Potts (Sheffield)
Sergey Dolgov (Bath) Juliette Unwin (Bristol)
Iain Moffatt (RHUL) Simon Blackburn (RHUL)
  Ali Taheri (Sussex)
   
   

UK institutions are invited to nominate three candidates who must have completed (the equivalent of) at least two full academic years of an undergraduate degree in mathematics/statistics at the time that the Summer School takes place and be continuing their mathematics undergraduate degree after the Summer School has finished. The final attendees will be decided by the local Organising Committee at the University of Essex. For further details including the programme please visit: LMS Undergraduate Summer School 2024.

Criteria for Nominations

To achieve an inclusive and cooperative working atmosphere, each LMS Undergraduate Summer School is usually limited to 50 in-person participants, so the organisers will need to be highly selective.  Indeed a high level of ability and enthusiasm for mathematics is essential to enjoy and benefit from the LMS Undergraduate Summer School.
 
Participation of women students in the LMS Undergraduate Summer School is particularly important as there is a recognised lack of women continuing on to postgraduate study.  To this end UK Institutions are asked to nominate both female and male students. 
 

Registration Fees

The Society asks that for each candidate accepted onto the LMS Undergraduate Summer School their home Department provides a £250 contribution. 

2025 LMS Undergraduate Summer School - To be confirmed.

Further details will be available in 2024. 


The Call for Expressions of Interest to host the LMS Undergraduate Summer School in 2025 - now open - extended to 15 May 2024.

A grant of up £25,000 plus income from registration fees (£250 per registered student attending in-person and £25 per registered student attending remotely) is available to support the costs of the LMS Undergraduate Summer School that can accommodate at least 50 undergraduate students attending in-person and up to 200 undergraduates attending remotely. 

The Expression of Interest should include a statement from the Head of Department confirming that the department would support the organisers while they run the Undergraduate Summer School e.g., by setting aside time for the organisers to run the event and/or the organisers' commitment to the event.

The London Mathematical Society has held an annual LMS Undergraduate Summer School, aimed at introducing enthusiastic undergraduate students to modern mathematical research, since 2015.  The LMS Undergraduate Summer Schools take place for a two-week period in July and have proved very popular.  

What is required of the LMS Undergraduate Summer School host? 

The host institution will be responsible for providing the infrastructure and administrative support of the LMS Undergraduate Summer School to take place as a hybrid event.  This will include: 

  • Catered accommodation for 50-55 undergraduates. 
  • Accommodation (if necessary) for lecturers. 
  • Lecture room(s) for the talks. 
  • Online facilities and engagement for virtual participation for up to 200 undergraduates.
  • Providing, if necessary, PhD students to assist the LMS Undergraduate Summer School e.g in exercises. 
  • Organising social activity and weekend excursions. 
  • Nomination and registration process.

Developing the programme of scientific content. 

The host organisation would normally establish a local organising committee to manage the LMS Undergraduate Summer School, and must provide a specific local lead organiser who will be an academic in the Mathematics Department of the host institution.  The local organising committee should also provide a designated contact in the institution’s finance department who can manage payments. 

How does the LMS support the organisation of the LMS Undergraduate Summer School? 

The LMS Undergraduate Summer Schools are funded by an LMS Grant to be made to the host institution, together with payments made by departments of successful applicants (£250 per student attending in-person and £25 per student attending remotely). 

The LMS Undergraduate Summer School will be advertised by the LMS in bulletins, the LMS Newsletter and through social media. 

The process to select a host 

All Expressions of Interests received will be considered by the LMS Early Career Research Committee. Previous hosts have been Loughborough (2015), Kent (2016), Manchester (2017), Glasgow (2018), Leeds (2019) and Swansea (postponed from 2020 and hosted online in 2021) The venue for the 2022 School will be Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh.

Previous LMS Undergraduate Summer Schools

2023 - University of Sheffield

2022 - Heriot-Watt and the University of Edinburgh

2021 - University of Swansea 

2020 - University of Swansea - postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19.

2019 - University of Leeds

2018 - University of Glasgow

2017 - University of Manchester

2016 - University of Kent

2015 - Loughborough University