About the Edinburgh Mathematical Society

The Edinburgh Mathematical Society (EMS) was founded in 1883, and has since become firmly established as the principal mathematical society for the university community in Scotland. The aims of the EMS are the promotion and extension of the Mathematical Sciences, pure and applied, particularly in Scotland, and the Society's membership is drawn from the Scottish universities and other educational institutions as well as from mathematicians in industry and commerce both at home and overseas. The EMS is a registered Scottish charity, No. SC000241, and its Constitution and Rules are available from the Downloads page. Current office holders and committee members are listed on the Officers page.

The EMS has published Proceedings (PEMS) since 1884. Annual volumes appear in three parts in February, June and October and contain research papers on topics in a broad range of pure and applied mathematics and book reviews. PEMS is published by Cambridge University Press and administered by the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS); it has a world-wide circulation, an illustrious international board of consulting editors, and an editorial board with a broad range of mathematical interests.

The Society also has an active programme of meetings, hosted by the Scottish universities. There are normally eight meetings a year, at which eminent mathematicians are invited to present talks. Details of this year's programme is available from the Meetings page. The EMS also holds postgraduate students' meetings at the Burn House, near Edzell.

The EMS provides grants for research and schools enrichment activities. Full details of these two grant schemes are available from the Research Support Fund and Education pages. It also awards the Whittaker Prize every four years to an outstanding young mathematician. The 2009 Whittaker prizewinner is Professor Agata Smoktunowicz of the University of Edinburgh.

The EMS became a member society of the Council for Mathematical Sciences (CMS) in 2008.

The Society's early history is described in the History of the EMS pages, and also in an article by Marit Hartveit in the December 2009 issue of the European Mathematical Society Newsletter (available here from the Newsletter or as an individual PDF from here). It celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2008 and the St Andrews MacTutor History of Mathematics team created a poster and booklet for the occasion. These (and lots of other information) are available here.

We welcome new members - the Membership page contains information on how to join as well as details of the societies with which the EMS has reciprocity agreements. Postgraduate mathematical sciences students at the Scottish universities are entitled to free membership.

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