Cofund MathInParis promotes a new generation of international mathematicians trained in Paris to create a new network of young innovating researchers integrated in the European Union and more generally as scientific ambassadors worldwide.
New ambitions, more mobility and more curiosity, more awareness for the impact of mathematics in the new economy, more taste for risk taking, innovation and entrepreneurship will surely emerge.
One of the major expected results of Cofund MathInParis was to promote closer relationships between laboratories in universities and partners from the non-academic sector. Mathematics have been indeed recognized as an important vector for innovation, and it is fundamental to ensure transfer to companies. However, our relationships still lack a solid and efficient structure, and one of our aims was to use the Cofund MathInParis as a trojan horse to improve technological transfer and promote bridges to companies.
We think today, at the end of the programme, that the work done has been in line with expected impacts. However, the Covid-19 pandemic situation did not permit to fully develop training aspects mostly linked with activities that are better performed in presence, and this had, of course, an impact on the whole programme.
Between 2020 and 2021, our programme experienced a decline in quality in several areas, primarily since fellows were unable to fully immerse themselves in the research environment of a mathematical laboratory in Paris for the required 36-month period. This timeframe is crucial to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed as mathematicians. Despite these challenges, we are proud to report that all 40 fellows completed their PhDs, and have already published 48 articles, with an additional 53 works in the pre-publication stage.
It is important to underline the key role of the MathInParis programme as the first Cofund programme coordinated by FSMP. Indeed, since 2017, the FSMP is the coordinator of 2 Doctoral Programmes: MathInParis, renewed in 2020 as MathInParis2020, and of the Postdoctoral Programme MathinGreaterParis, started in 2021. Moreover, at the light of the selection and recruitment experiences for the Cofund MathInParis, the FSMP engaged the procedure and obtain the HRS4R label.
Based on these experiences the FSMP submitted in the Cofund MSCA call 2022 a new ambitious programme, MathPhDInFrance, in collaboration with partners in all French regions. The aim is to enlarge and promote to all the French mathematical community the momentum initiated by the MathInParis programme. Indeed, it is expected that the doctoral programme will make emerge new ambitions, mindset changes towards more mobility and curiosity, a greater awareness of the impact of Mathematics in the new economy, a greater taste for risk, innovation, and entrepreneurship, yielding regional, national and international socio-economic benefits and strengthening significantly research human resources.
