I was granted a travel grant for the conference “Non-local PDEs and Probability” at the University of Swansea in Wales. I have a cross-disciplinary paper on the topic, so it was always a bit off-topic for usual conferences, and I had never given a talk on it before.  I was particularly interested in going to this event and taking the chance to present the paper, since it finally fits into the scope of a conference.

I was very positively surprised that the organizer gave me a full slot of 50 minutes, although I had asked for a short contributed talk. Furthermore, I’m happy to report that 50% of the speakers were women. Other women speakers were Mariya Ptashnyk (Heriot-Watt University), Sarah Penington (University of Bath), Elaine Crooks (University of Swansea) and Raluca Eftimie (University of Dundee).

It was a small conference that lasted 2.5 days and had around 25 participants. Also, it was funded by the LMS and the University of Swansea. For me it was perfect, because the audience was really interested and the whole event had a friendly and social atmosphere. Moreover, as other speakers had also noticed, the event brought together researchers who did not know each other in advance, since they usually attended other specialized conferences and not such a cross-over event. I think this also contributed to the positive atmosphere. People were curious about the other’s research, and due to the small group size there was really an opportunity to talk to everyone for a while.

In summary, for me it was a really nice and successful conference. I would like to thank all the EWM members who supported me through the membership fees, and the EWM grant committee for their trust.

Carina Geldhauser