Dr Rachel Newton
Reader in Number Theory, King's College London
Homepage: https://sites.google.com/view/rachelnewton
PhD: University of Cambridge, 2012
Previous appointments: 2012 - 2013 postdoc, Leiden University; 2013 - 2014 postdoc, Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (MPIM); 2014 postdoc, Leiden University; 2014 - 2015 European Post-Doctoral Institute Fellow, MPIM and IHES; 2016 - 2021 Lecturer/Associate Professor, University of Reading; 2020 - present UKRI Future Leaders Fellow
Research interests: Number theory, especially rational points on algebraic varieties, local-global principles and Braeur-Manin obstructions
LMS service: Member-at-Large of Council from 2021; member of the joint editorial board of the Journal and Bulletin of the LMS from 2023; member of the Early Career Research Committee 2017 – 2023 (deputy chair 2021 – 2023); Cecil King Travel Scholarship panel chair in 2021 and panel member in 2022; LMS Departmental Representative for the University of Reading 2016 – 2017.
Additional information: Co-organiser of the LMS Scheme 3 research network ERLASS (Egham–Reading–London Arithmetic Statistics Seminar) 2019 – 2021; member of the EPSRC External Communications Group advisory network 2022 – 2023; member of the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences Early Career Forum 2018 – 2021; member of the Women in Numbers Steering Committee from 2016; regular participation in grant panels (EPSRC, NSF); UCU departmental representative for Mathematics and Statistics at Reading 2020 – 2021; co-organiser of several conferences in number theory as well as broader interest events such as the LMS Women in Mathematics Day (Reading 2022), LMS Prospects in Mathematics Meeting (Reading 2017) and Young Researchers in Mathematics (Cambridge 2010).
Personal statement: The 2006 LMS Prospects in Mathematics Meeting was my first glimpse of contemporary mathematical research, and a chance to meet other mathematicians who went on to become friends and collaborators. Since then, I have co-organised many of the LMS-sponsored events I attended as a young researcher. I see Council membership as another way of giving back.
The community-building activities of the LMS are especially important in this era of remote working and online meetings. I am concerned about the difficulties facing early career mathematicians without strong professional networks or job security, and the danger of hybrid meetings inadvertently creating second-class citizens.
My PhD students have made me keenly aware of the visa-related and cash-flow issues that face international researchers on low pay and I think there is an opportunity for the LMS to help remove some of these barriers to participation.
In my first term on Council, I advocated for a stronger defence of mathematics departments facing cuts and redundancies. If re-elected, I will continue to pursue this cause as well as seeking to make mathematics more inclusive at every level. I also think there is scope for an LMS good practice scheme around anti-casualisation and supporting early career mathematicians.