2020 was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. January and February were typical, after which we began to arrange our activities with all staff working from home and all activities being run online. We were fortunate that we had begun using more remote working in 2019 associated with the Scholarships scheme and so were in a good position to expand our remote / virtual working. Trustees are very appreciative of the huge team effort that enabled this.
There was a dramatic reduction of face-to-face activities, in particular conferences, but in other areas services were maintained and in some places expanded.
Our conference team ran one face-to-face event, 13 virtual events, postponed six events and cancelled one event. The rapid expansion of virtual events was commendable.
To compensate for the reduced programme and to provide increased services to members who had been furloughed, we launched a series of Maths Teas virtual events that were established by our Social Media Taskforce. These Maths Teas proved to be very popular with members and non-members joining from across the UK and internationally. It is planned that these Maths Teas will continue in 2021.
We ran the Department for Education Mathematics Teacher Training Scholarships scheme for an eighth successful year recommending 333 outstanding applicants for scholarship funds.
A large number of Branch events were held online, allowing members in much greater numbers to attend these regional events from any location.
We played the leading role with the CMS in the inclusion of mathematics within STEM for Britain at Parliament; the final of the 2020 competition took place in Parliament on 9 March.
All issues of Mathematics Today were printed and posted on time - a simple statement that hides a great deal of work behind the scenes!
The membership eBulletins were issued every two months, alternating with Mathematics Today.
The popular IMA MathsCareers website was redesigned during the year; attracted 390,000 visits and increased its followers on Twitter to 7,267. We also issued six more editions of our e16plus newsletter.
Our eStudent offer continues to be highly popular, and following a refresh of our eStudent population, we had 7,000 eStudents at the end of 2020.
Our grant programmes for research, education and university activities were under-utilised because so few face-to-face activities, which are the mainstay of our grant programmes, could be held.
And on top of this we ran our regular activities including, education, journals, and mathematics consultations.
Our year-end membership numbers were at the highest level ever. We are grateful to all our members who support the Institute and to the Volunteers and Secretariat that kept our Services to Mathematics so vibrant in 2020.
We hope that you enjoy reading the comprehensive details in the rest of this Annual Report to Members 2020 (pdf).
Notice of the Fifty-seventh IMA Annual General Meeting: 30 June 2021
To keep our members and staff safe, avoid non-essential travel and to plan in a timely manner against the continuing uncertain background, we have made arrangements to hold the IMA 2021 AGM online for a second year. This will also enable us to submit the required annual documents to the Charity Commission on time, fulfilling good governance of the Charity.
Therefore, the 57th IMA AGM will take place virtually on Wednesday 30 June via GoToMeeting videoconferencing software, starting at 17:15. Places at the AGM are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. IMA members who wish to register for attendance at the virtual AGM should contact Alison Penry ([email protected]) who will provide the required details, subject to availability of places. All registrations for attendance should be made by 16:00 on 29 June.
Further details are available in the AGM Notice 2021 (pdf) which has also been distributed with the June issue of Mathematics Today.
