Fostering Mathematics Collaboration

ICTP-Italian partnership nurtures mathematics in developing countries

Mathematicians need little equipment – a blackboard and some chalk or alternatively a pencil and some paper — to do their job. Good collaborators and some uninterrupted, quiet time, away from administrative tasks and frequent emails are also essential. The partnership that ICTP and the Italian National Institute of High Mathematics (INdAM) started ten years ago aims precisely at fostering new collaborations by providing mathematicians working in developing countries and INdAM members with the working conditions they need to exchange ideas and work on new projects together.

The ICTP-INdAM partnership supports one-to-two-month visits to ICTP for pairs or small groups of mathematicians, one of whom must come from a developing country, while the others are members of INdAM. While at ICTP, they work on a collaborative project and can benefit from ICTP’s unique environment to support their research.

In the first part of 2025 the partnership will support five collaborative projects. Three of the projects spent time at ICTP in January and we have interviewed them to learn more about their experience.