< Previous page ^ Table of Contents Next page >

Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Kuwait Professorship of Number Theory and Algebra

The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The University has an international reputation for its scholarship in the field of mathematics. Number theory and algebra, although subjects of great antiquity, are topics which remain central to basic mathematics and form the foundation of much current research, both in Cambridge, particularly in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, and at universities throughout the world. Number theory is the study of the arithmetic properties of the integers; problems in many areas of pure mathematics, such as, for example, those of algebraic topology, can often be reduced to questions that are best considered within number theory. Answers to some apparently simple problems concerning integer solutions to equations which have defied the human intellect for centuries have recently been found through the application of the most sophisticated techniques of modern abstract algebra and algebraic geometry to selected number fields.

2. The Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics is in constant competition to attract and retain academic staff qualified to provide leadership in fundamental research and teaching. An opportunity to strengthen the Department's international reputation for the excellence of its work has now arisen, through an offer of funding from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. In accordance with their commitment to sponsor basic science-orientated research in leading universities, and to reflect the importance of the Arab contribution to mathematics, especially to algebra and number theory, the Foundation have generously offered to provide £150,000 a year for ten years, in the first instance, to fund a Professorship and also to support the establishment of a Research Fellowship and a programme of study and research in number theory and algebra in the Department.

3. The General Board warmly welcome this offer of support; they propose that a Kuwait Professorship of Number Theory and Algebra should be established in the University for a single tenure from 1 October 2000 and assigned to the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics. The Board have agreed that, in the event of any shortfall in the funding needed to support the Professorship, the Research Fellowship, and the proposed programme of study and research, the University Lectureship in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics that will be released from abeyance on 1 October 2006 on the retirement of Professor A. Baker should continue to be held in abeyance. The Board have been advised that an appointment at Professorial level would be likely to attract a strong field of applicants. They have agreed to concur in the view of the Faculty Board of Mathematics that an election to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors and that candidature for the Professorship should be open without limitation or preference to all candidates whose work falls within the general field of the title of the office.

4. The General Board recommend:

I. That the generous offer of a benefaction of £150,000 a year for ten years from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences for the support of a Professorship of Number Theory and Algebra, a Research Fellowship, and an associated programme of study and research be gratefully accepted.

II. That a Kuwait Professorship of Number Theory and Algebra be established in the University for one tenure from 1 October 2000, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics.

III. That regulations for a Kuwait Foundation Fund, as set out in the Schedule to this Report, be approved.

21 October 1998

ALEC N. BROERS, Vice-Chancellor JOHN A. LEAKE A. C. MINSON
JOHN E. CARROLL PETER LIPTON MICHAEL PEPPER
D. A. GOOD N. J. MACKINTOSH ADRIAN POOLE
D. E. L. JOHNSTON D. H. MELLOR K. B. PRETTY

SCHEDULE

Kuwait Foundation Fund

1. The sums received from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences shall form a fund called the Kuwait Foundation Fund.

2. The Fund shall be administered by a Board of Managers who shall be:

(a) the Sadleirian Professor of Pure Mathematics as Chairman;
(b) the Head of the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics;
(c) one person appointed by the General Board;
(d) one person appointed by the Faculty Board of Mathematics;
(e) two persons appointed by the Trustees of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences.

Managers in classes (c)-(e) shall be appointed in the Michaelmas Term to serve for four years from 1 January following their appointment.

3. The first charge on the income of the Fund shall be the payment of the stipend, national insurance, pension contributions, and indirect costs of the Kuwait Professor of Number Theory and Algebra payable by the University.

4. If and whenever the income of the Fund shall exceed the amount required to meet the costs specified in Regulation 3, the excess of the income over that amount may be applied in support of the work of the Kuwait Professor of Number Theory and Algebra in such manner as may be approved by the General Board on the recommendation of the Managers.

5. After provision has been in accordance with Regulation 3, and subject to the provisions of Regulation 4, the Fund shall be used at the discretion of the Managers for the following purposes:

(a) to provide the stipend of a Kuwait Junior Fellowship for research in mathematics, which shall be tenable in the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics;
(b) to provide lectures from time to time, to be called Kuwait Fund Lectures, on subjects in the field of number theory or algebra, and to pay a stipend to the lecturers;
(c) to support research in the field of number theory or algebra.

6. Elections to a Kuwait Junior Fellowship shall be made by the General Board on the recommendation of the Managers.

7. A Kuwait Junior Fellowship shall be tenable for not more than one year. The period of tenure and the stipend of the Fellow shall be determined by the General Board on the recommendation of the Managers in each particular case.

8. Any unspent income in a financial year shall be either added to the capital of the Fund or accumulated for use as income in a future year, at the discretion of the Managers.


< Previous page ^ Table of Contents Next page >

Cambridge University Reporter, 28 October 1998
Copyright © 1998 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.