Author Archives: Peter Pudney

MISG 2019

The 2019 Mathematics in Industry Study Group workshop was held in Adelaide at the City West campus of the University of South Australia, from 21-25 January 2019.

Due to problems securing suitable industry problems this year, we ran a smaller event where we worked on the Explorer Challenge.

Despite the smaller event, we had 31 delegates at MISG. These included delegates from Oxford in the UK and from Japan. About half of the delegates were PhD students, with seven of these from the IDTC.

We had a geologist from UniSA present the problem on the Monday morning and provide technical advice throughout the week.

MISG will move to Newcastle University in 2020, with Natalie Thamwattana as the new director.

MISG 2018

The 2018 Mathematics in Industry Group workshop was held in Adelaide from 29 January – 2 February. There were four projects from three companies:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics: combining publicly available data to infer information about sub-populations
  • ElectraNet: incorporating the stochastic behaviour of new electricity generation technologies into long-term network optimisation
  • ElectraNet: how do non-sychronous power generators, such as wind turbines and photovoltaic generators, impact the stability of electricity systems?
  • Australian Lamb Company: optimising red meat cuts.

MISG was attended by about 75 delegates. Most were from Adelaide, but delegates also came from Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Newcastle. International delegates were from Oxford (UK), South Korea, Japan, Spain, Turkey and Italy. About half of the delegates were PhD students.

MISG was opened by Professor Emily Hilder, director of the Future Industries Institute at the University of South Australia. The MISG dinner was held at the State Library of South Australia.

The venue for the next 2019 MISG will be announced here once it has been decided.

More information about MISG:

MISG 2017

MISG 2017 ran from 13-17 February 2017. It was opened by Emeritus Professor John Ockendon from Oxford University, who was instrumental in setting up study groups around the world.

We had about 65 delegates at MISG 2017, of which about one-third were PhD students. Most delegates were from Australia, but we also had visitors from the UK, Europe, Japan and Korea.

The delegates tackled four industry problems:

  • analysing the lateness of UK passenger trains
  • determining the impact of safety cameras on road crashes
  • estimating the transonic drag of projectiles
  • developing electricity control and pricing mechanisms for micro-grids.

More information:

MISG 2016

MISG 2016 ran from 1-5 February 2016. The problems included:

  • Inference in a knowledgebase (DST Group)
  • Sequencing ore extraction to control blend quality (Schneider Electric)
  • Modelling water pollutant density associated with surface water runoff (SA Water)
  • Optimisation of household PV and storage (Ergon Energy).

Thanks to everyone who contributed to a successful MISG.

Useful links: