The first of the new round of APRInterns across Australia was awarded to PhD candidate Fillipe Georgiou. Fillipe is currently working with Prof Natalie Thamwattana to predict locust outbreaks better. Fillipe is our fourth ARP intern from the mathematics discipline at the University of Newcastle. Fillipe will work with the company "Climate Risk" for three months, helping improve efficiency in climate impact modelling. Last year, we had Dr Ben Maldon, who worked with "Hyper Q Aerospace. Earlier this year, we had Dr Riya Arrgwahl who, after completing a project with Veris, was employed by them as an innovation engineer. Currently, we also have Kyle Stevens, who is about to finish his internship with Lake Macquarie City Council. All of these interns have been mentored by A/Prof Mike Meylan. Mike's expertise is in using mathematics to understand real-world problems. He is passionate about supporting PhD students to gain industry experience and apply cutting-edge research in an industry setting.

Congrats to the team who have recently submitted an expression of interest for a national centre on "Mathematical Thinking". The application is led by Laureate Professor George Willis with support from various CARMA members including Associate Professor Stephan Chalup and Professor Florian Breuer both playing key roles. Other Universities involved as nodes include Monash, UNSW, Sydney, Western Sydney and Macquarie. The centre plan is ambitious, spanning cognitive science, pure mathematics, industrial applications, and consequences for the broader society. Pulling together such a rich application and collaboration is an achievement at any time, and the more so in the very challenging times we find ourselves. Well done to the team!

Two recent graduates, Dr Matt Skerritt and Dr Riya Aggarwal, have each recently commenced full time jobs. Matt is a lecturer in mathematics and cyber security at RMIT, and Riya is working for Veris, a national surveying, digital and spatial planning business. Congratulations to Matt and to Riya.

The CARMA Colloquia are returning for 2021 with Michael Assis acting as the convenor. Regular time will be Thursdays 4–5pm in SR118 and also viewable online via Zoom. See the events page for information on upcoming talks.