Jan Vonk appointed full professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute
As of 1 November, Jan Vonk has been appointed full professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute (MI). The institute is delighted with Jan’s appointment, as is he. ‘At the MI we combine the abstract with the concrete like no other.’
Vonk has been employed at the MI since 2020. ‘In 2020, I made a very conscious decision to come to Leiden.’ He explains: ‘The institute has always had a special appeal to me. The scientific research at the MI is of exceptionally high quality. And I have found a group of colleagues with whom I have developed a personal bond in a short time, both within my own department and outside of it. I am very pleased and honoured with this appointment.’
Why mathematics?
‘What makes mathematics so exciting for me personally is the deep and sometimes unexpected interaction between different disciplines,’ Vonk says. ‘When you work with number theory, you can learn a lot by listening to what happens in geometry, analysis, topology or even statistics. Such encounters often give rise to the most beautiful and powerful mathematics.’
Expanding the research group
Vonk looks to the future with great enthusiasm. ‘I’m really looking forward to it! In the coming years, I will focus on further developing the activities of our research group. With this I want to connect to the many strengths of the MI, with special attention to the associativity mentioned above. This is a strong tradition in Leiden and the MI has a research culture that combines the abstract with the concrete like no other.’
Vonk studied Mathematics at Ghent University, Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland) and the University of Cambridge. After, he obtained his doctorate at the University of Oxford. In the following years Vonk worked as a postdoc at the Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM) of McGill University in Montréal, at the University of Oxford and the Institute for Advanced Study of Princeton University. As of 2020, Vonk works at the Mathematical Institute of Leiden University. In 2022 he received a VIDI grant and in 2023 an ERC Starting Grant for five years.
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