Anna Wienhard is a Plenary Speaker at the ECM 2024

In her plenary lecture on Friday, July 19^th, Anna Wienhard will describe the beautiful world of discrete subgroups of Lie groups of higher rank, taking inspiration from and making connection to hyperbolic geometry.

Anna Wienhard’s research interests lie in geometry, group theory, and dynamics. She strongly believes in the unity of mathematics and the fruitful interplay between fundamental research in mathematics and the exploration of applications of mathematics in other sciences. With her group, she also engages in sciences communication.

Symmetry, captured in symmetry groups, is a key concept of her research group which investigates their actions on topological spaces or Riemannian manifolds. Their research focuses on discrete subgroups of Lie groups, symmetric and homogeneous spaces, moduli spaces of geometric structures, geometry and dynamics of representation varieties, Anosov representations, higher Teichmüller theory, positivity in Lie groups, cluster algebras, and Higgs bundles. In addition, they are interested in interactions with theoretical physics, in particular, the study of quantum field theories, and applications of geometric and topological methods in data analysis and machine learning.

The European Congress of Mathematics (ECM) is considered the second most important event in mathematics in the world. Its ninth edition in Seville, Spain, brings together more than 1,300 experts presenting and discussing the latest advances in fundamental and applied mathematics like Artificial Intelligence, education, Big Data and open science. The scientific event congregates some of the main leaders of European mathematics and serves as meeting point for numerous researchers

The program includes 12 plenary lectures, 32 invited lectures, 640 mini-symposia talks, and 270 contributed communications in thematic sessions, as well as round tables, outreach conferences, activities for young researchers and a cultural program, including four exhibitions having mathematics as their backdrop.

A highlight of the congress is the presentation of the EMS Awards by the European Mathematical Society to 14 young scientists, who will be honored with the most prestigious recognitions for young mathematicians in Europe.