We are delighted to announce that the Council of the IMA has awarded the first IMA Hedy Lamarr Prize for Knowledge Exchange in Mathematics and its Applications to Professor Rebecca Hoyle. This new IMA prize, which was introduced to the community in 2020, is awarded to a mathematician who demonstrates meritorious knowledge exchange in mathematics and its applications.
The citation for the 2021 award to Rebecca Hoyle follows.
Citation
Professor Rebecca Hoyle, Associate Dean for Research and Enterprise, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Southampton receives the first Hedy Lamarr Prize for her sustained contributions to knowledge exchange in the mathematical sciences, creating new links between academia and the wider world, and inspiring, enhancing and supporting others in their knowledge exchange.
Professor Hoyle is known as someone who is passionate about using her undoubted strengths as a mathematician to bring benefit to society, especially the interface with the life and social sciences. She has a sustained history of bridging the divide between mathematical modelling and other disciplines. Her early work on pattern formation included applications to aeolian sand ripples and chemical catalysis. Her research then moved strongly towards applying mathematics and modelling to issues in the life and social sciences. In collaboration with life scientists she researched two-component system signalling, the dynamics of molecular motors and the evolution of transgenerational effects in response to environmental change. More recently, she has worked on problems in psychology and social science, studying the effect of personality traits on strategy decisions and the evolution of cooperation in social networks. She uses a variety of mathematical techniques from equation-free methods and agent-based modelling to statistical inference and dynamics on multiplex networks.
However, the primary work for which we recognise Professor Hoyle with this medal is in her response to the Covid-19 pandemic. She has played a key role in supporting and encouraging knowledge exchange at a national level. She is one of the founding members of the Virtual Forum for Knowledge Exchange in Mathematical Sciences (V-KEMS), an effort to develop virtual approaches enabling knowledge exchange in the mathematical sciences during the pandemic. These approaches have been so successful that they may well be used indefinitely, even when in-person events are once again possible. As part of V-KEMS, Professor Hoyle has been instrumental in leading work at virtual events on reopening physical spaces in the workplace and in higher education, taking a significant leadership role in each. She has used her impressively broad network of contacts to bring University managers, social scientists and epidemiologists to collaborate in the online study groups. She is deeply inclusive in her attitudes, making extra efforts to ensure that diverse voices are brought to the table. Beyond her direct contribution to these pieces of work, colleagues have commented on her outstanding ability to guide a group of researchers (of different backgrounds and from different career stages) toward useful outputs that will have the largest impact possible.
These V-KEMS events and their resulting papers are large, collaborative efforts that have had significant interest from the appropriate government departments including engagement both during and after the events. Leading on from V-KEMS activity, Professor Hoyle has also been working with collaborators on modelling the pandemic in higher education settings in the UK.
Throughout her work, Professor Hoyle has demonstrated a real passion for the responsibility of mathematicians to improve society; to make a real difference to the human condition. She brings teams together and guides them to produce something extraordinary.
Much of Knowledge Exchange is about people. Professor Hoyle is calm, sensible and selfless, driven by her desire to bring collaborators together and enable them to achieve really important work.
Professor Rebecca Hoyle is a fantastic role model and a worthy recipient of this award.
