Last Wednesday, March 26, 2025, this year's Abel Prize was awarded to the Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara. The Abel Prize is one of the most prestigious honours in mathematics. It is awarded every year by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and comes with a prize money of over £550,000.

In this episode of Maths on the Move we talk to Helge Holden, Chair of the Abel Prize Committee. Helge tells us about this year's winner, the history and purpose of the Prize, and how the winners are chosen. He also tells us why good mathematicians are needed in all sectors of science and beyond, and talks about the tragic story of the mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, after whom the Prize is named.

To find out more about some of the topics mentioned in this episode, see:

• The Abel Prize 2025: Masaki Kashiwara - An accessible look at some of Kashiwara's mathematics.
• The Chern Medal 2018: Masaki Kashiwara - Another look at Kashiwara's work written on the occasion of his winning the Chern Medal in 2018.
• What are groups and what are they good for? - An episode of the Maths on the Move podcast which explores group theory.
• Stubborn equations and the study of symmetry - An article which touches one of Niels Henrik Abel's most famous results.
• Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik - Also known as Crelle's journal, this publication is mentioned in the podcast.

The UK government has recently pledged to put around £14 billion into supporting the development of artificial intelligence over the next few years. But because AI comes with perils as well as promises, careful policy decision are going to be crucial. In order to make such decision in an informed way, politicians need to interact with the mathematicians and scientist who develop AI.

In this episode of Maths on the Move we talk to mathematician Chris Budd who recently went to Parliament for something called Evidence Week, where he and other AI researchers talked with MPs and Peers from the House of Lords. Chris tells us about the discussions he had with politicians — about the worrying issue of bias in AI, its promising applications, for example in the medical arena, and also about the fact that AI is built on mathematics. A strong maths education, starting at primary school, is therefore essential if we're going to make the best of AI in the future.

Chris is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Bath, co-lead of the research project Maths4DL, and Director of Knowledge Exchange for the Bath Institute for Mathematical Innovation. He attended Evidence week with a team of researchers which included Yolanne Lee, a Maths4DL PhD student who recently featured in another Maths on the Move episode. The image above shows, from left to right, Dáire O’Kane (Maths4DL), Jenny Power (IMI), Yolanne Lee (Maths4DL), and Alexandra Freeman, Baroness Freeman of Steventon.

To find out more about some of the topics discussed in this episode see

• AI be the judge: The use of algorithms in the criminal justice system
• Can AI help with breast cancer screening?
• Maths4DL AI policy brief: Black boxes of AI - watch maths open them

This podcast was produced as part of our collaboration with the Mathematics for Deep Learning (Maths4DL) research programme. Maths4DL brings together researchers from the universities of Bath and Cambridge, and University College London and aims to combine theory, modelling, data and computation to unlock the next generation of deep learning. You can see more content produced with Maths4DL here.

We kick off our latest series of podcasts with an episode of Living proof, produced jointly with the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (INI).

This episode is all about the communication of mathematics to the wider world, which is becoming ever more recognised as a priority within the maths community. We talk to Sara Khan, Communications Manager at the INI, about how this renowned research institute supports mathematics communication. And we revisit our interview with Hannah Fry who has just taken up her new role as Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics here at the University of Cambridge

As Hannah puts it,

"It's really important that people feel that [mathematics] is being done with them, not to them."

We also find out about Hannah's own research in her previous role as Professor for the Mathematics of Cities at University College London, and hear about her favourite mathematical moment.

To find out more about organisations and events in support of mathematics communication mentioned in this episode, see the following links:

• The Mathsci-comm network is funded by an INI Network grant and aims to connect those working in, and with a stake in, communicating complex mathematics and data science to a variety of non-expert audiences. The network is run by the Editors of plus.maths.org, Marianne Freiberger and Rachel Thomas, together with Maha Kaouri from the Newton Gateway to Mathematics
• Communicating mathematical and data sciences — what does success look like? was a workshop organised by the Mathsci-comm network, which took place at the INI in November 2024. Hannah Fry announced her move to Cambridge at this event.
• The Graduate training workshop for the Mathematical Sciences, organised by the Newton Gateway to Mathematics, took place at the INI in February 2025 and comprised a significant component dedicated to communication, delivered by the Editors of plus.maths.org, Marianne Freiberger and Rachel Thomas, together with Alison Kiddle and Katie Steckles. This followed a pilot event which took place in October 2024.
• Talking maths in public (TMiP) is a conference which runs in the UK every two years, for people who work in, or otherwise participate in, communicating mathematics to the public. TMiP 2025 will take place at the University of Warwick on 28th - 30th August 2025, with the option to participate online.

This content was produced as part of our collaborations with the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (INI) and the Newton Gateway to Mathematics.

The INI is an international research centre and our neighbour here on the University of Cambridge's maths campus. The Newton Gateway is the impact initiative of the INI, which engages with users of mathematics. You can find all the content from the collaboration here.