This summer we ran the Chalkdust dissertation prize for the second time. Final-year students were encouraged to write up a summary of their dissertation and why they thought it was interesting and fun. The winner was offered a feature on the website and to have their article published in the magazine, with a £100 prize sponsored by the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA).
This year’s competition was tough, but out of all the many outstanding subbmissions, Hannah Woods won with her article Microbe Wars. It details how we can mathematically model the DNA in our body using filaments and bundles.
About the author
At the time of submission, Hannah was completing her master’s degree in mathematics at Durham University where she studied courses branching off applied maths and representation theory. When she wasn’t studying maths, it was probably more maths she was doing—Hannah loves getting involved with maths outreach programs, communication and events. She is a big fan of 24-hour challenges “having taken on Durhack and Le Maths“.
A highlight of Hannah’s time at Durham is the work she did towards the inclusion and empowerment of women and non-binary students in maths. “At Durham I started the Women in Maths Society – the experience has left me with an axolotl obsession and a lot of niche origami skills!” Hannah created the community for students to come together, build friendships and support one another in their studies.
Even after her departure from Durham, the society remains strong with regular study cafe sessions to work on assignments in a friendly environment, as well as offering advice for exams and CV development.
Academic life
Hannah is now a PhD student in applied maths at Oxford University, specifically “researching problems in fluid mechanics relating to regenerative therapies. [These] refer to a range of developing medical treatments aimed at repairing and replacing damaged cells and tissue; including engineering tissue in bioreactors and improving techniques for drug delivery.”
Hannha’s main academic interests are in applied maths—on the topic of her new PhD project, she finds problems like these exciting. “There is a complex interplay between the fluid and solid dynamics with scope for analytic, numeric and experimental analysis.” A common phrase she hears in the wild is “I didn’t know you could do that with maths”, which she loves. The real motivation for academic research comes from the real-word appplications of the problems she studies.
In the future, Hannah hopes to carry on being part of research and contributing to the science she has been learning up to this point, “I am fascinated by the role mathematical modelling can play in speeding up scientific advancements”. There will be (unsurprisingly!) a particular interest in problems in fluid dynamics and mathematical biology.
Writing for Chalkdust
“I started reading Chalkdust after discovering copies spread around the Durham maths department”, says Hannah, reflecting and how she first encountered the magazine. “[It] is about rediscovering the joy of maths!”
It is no secret that being a student of any discipline is intense; amongst the barrage of proofs, assignments, exams and Greek letters there can also appear a lot of stress. For Hannah, Chalkdust reminds her of “all the quirks of the subject” that made her choose to study maths in the first place. In particular, she likes that “you can dip in and out of lots of different topics” and the fact we promote accessibility of new areas of maths.
Moreover, Hannah emphasised that we “encourage writers from different […] mathematical backgrounds” to come and write for us and agrees that it’s fun to share the unexpected and wonderful ways in which maths turns up in the world.
When asked about the article submission itself, Hannah was initially nervous that she didn’t have any exerience when it comes to writing articles, but ended up having lots of fun in the process. “I think the most important thing to remember when writing is that less is more—your reader has not spent months studying the subject like you have, so keep things clear and simple.” Her key advice (at least for the dissertation write-up) was to “focus on one section […] that really interests you” as this will without a doubt make it easier to write with enthusiasm.
“Try to tell a story”, she continued, “and have a plan of the ‘finale’ you are building to”. Another point she made is to remind yourself that you don’t have to start at the beginning. “I struggled to get started so skipped to a later section and wrote the introduction last”. One exercise she thought was useful was to talk to others; practicing talking about your topic can really help to check things make sense.
What is your favourite maths ‘thing’?
“I imagine the golden ratio is a popular answer! So, I will also add Penrose tiling! It is a source of amusement and frustration to look for repetition of the pattern that does not exist!”
We are thankful that Hannah took the time to share her experience with us. You can read her article here and hopefully not join the dark side.
A new hope…
Think you will end up writing about something really cool for your dissertation? The Chalkdust dissertation prize will be reopening its submission window towards the end of the summer exam season 2026. Watch this space for information on a chance to get your write-up turned into an article for the world to see!
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