Maths Week Ireland (MWI) is an all-island (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) mathematics outreach initiative founded in 2006 by Eoin Gill and Sheila Donegan, based on an idea by Eoin Gill. It is a project of the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology (CALMAST) the STEM outreach centre at Waterford Institute of Technology. It is run by Gill and Donegan who are the directors of CALMAST. In 2019 MWI engaged over 400,000 people on an island with a population of under 7 million and is arguably the world's largest mathematics festival.
Purpose
MWI is a partnership of over 50 organizations dedicated to promoting and celebrating mathematics across the island of Ireland, including universities, institutes of technology, colleges, museums, libraries, visitor centres, and other professional bodies. Maths Week Ireland is supported by the Departments of Education in both parts of the island of Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), the ESB Group, and various technology companies such as Google and Xilinx.
MWI targets school and universities, as well as hosting weekend "street fairs" in cities such as Dublin, Belfast and Cork. Events are run by the participants with materials delivered online by Maths Week Ireland. Most schools run their own special activities. Maths Week is a nine-day event (a Saturday to the Sunday of the following weekend, inclusive) which always includes the 16th of October, the day in 1843 when William R. Hamilton discovered quaternions. The idea has been so successful that it has now been replicated in England and Scotland.
MWI hosts the Maths Ireland website which is home to the monthly blogs of the Annals of Irish Mathematics & Mathematicians (AIMM), authored by Colm Mulcahy.
Starting in 2016, MWI has also produced the annual Irish Maths Calendars which are also archived at the Maths Ireland site.
Presenters
Mathematicians and mathematics popularizers who have been MWI presenters include:
Rob Eastaway
Marcus du Sautoy
John D. Barrow
Colm Mulcahy
David Acheson
Keith Devlin
Matt Parker
Eugenia Cheng
James Tanton
Kjartan Poskitt
Bobby Seagull
Maths Week Ireland Award
In 2016 MWI inaugurated the annual Maths Week Ireland Award to honor outstanding work in raising public awareness of mathematics. The award is presented during Maths Week Ireland. Awardees so far are: 2016: Des MacHale 2017: Peter Lynch 2018: Anthony O’Farrell and Fiacre Ó Cairbre who founded the annual Hamilton Walk 2019: Mark McCartney 2020: Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin 2021: Dara Ó Briain 2022: Rafael de Andrade Moral