Eight members of the Cambridge Mathematics Faculty are included in the first cohort of Fellows and Honorary Fellows of the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences. The inaugural cohort of 100 Fellows brings together mathematicians across academia, education, business, industry, and government to help tackle some of the UK’s biggest challenges.
The founding cohort of Fellows and Honorary Fellows includes five researchers from the Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics (DPMMS) and three researchers from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), reflecting the breadth of mathematics.
Professor Sir John Aston FRS, Professor Anne-Christine Davis OBE, Professor Richard Samworth FRS, Professor Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb, Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS OBE, Professor Jack Thorne FRS, and Professor Wendelin Werner have been announced as Fellows, with Professor David Abrahams named as an Honorary Fellow in recognition of his work towards the creation of the Academy.
Like Fellows of the other National Academies (Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering, British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences), the Fellows of the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences have been recognised as leaders in their fields, through fundamental discoveries, exceptional work in education, or driving the application of mathematics across society. The first cohort of Fellows includes expertise includes winners of the Fields Medal, business leaders, distinguished teachers and academics, science communicators, and pioneers of computing and machine learning.
Reflecting the scope and impact of mathematics
The new Cambridge Fellows reflect the breadth and impact of work within mathematics, statistics and theoretical physics:
Professor David Abrahams is Professor of Applied Mathematics in DAMTP. Prior to this, he was Director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge (2016-2021) and Scientific Director of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Edinburgh University (2014-2016). He was awarded the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) Gold Medal in 2025 award for providing "three decades of enthusiastic, inclusive and energetic leadership to the UK applied mathematics community."
David Abrahams played a key role in the preparatory work for the setting up of the Knowledge Exchange Hub for Mathematical Sciences and the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences, which is now recognised through the honorary Fellowship.
Professor Sir John Aston FRS is Harding Professor of Statistics in Public Life in DPMMS, and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge. John leads research into the use of quantitative evidence in public policymaking. He works with those in public life to help ensure they use the best methods, and aims to improve the use of statistics and quantitative evidence in public policy.
John Aston was Chief Scientific Adviser and Director-General for Science, Technology, Analysis, Research and Strategy at the Home Office from 2017 to 2020, and was a founding director of the Alan Turing Institute. He was knighted in 2021 for services to statistics and public policymaking.
Professor Anne-Christine Davis OBE is the Emeritus Professor of Mathematical Physics (1967) in DAMTP. Her research over a number of years has been in the area of dark energy and theoretical cosmology.
Anne Davis was the first female Professor in the Faculty of Mathematics at Cambridge. In 2019 she was awarded the Institute of Physics Gold Medal Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize for 'outstanding support and leadership in physics, particularly for women and those from non-traditional backgrounds, for her leadership of the UK particle cosmology community, and her gender championship roles'. She was awarded an OBE in the King's Birthday honours in 2024.
Professor Richard Samworth FRS is Professor of Statistical Science in DPMMS, and Director of the Statistical Laboratory. His main research interests are in statistical methodology and theory, as well as the statistical foundations of AI.
His outstanding contributions to the field of statistics have been recognised with several honours, including receiving the COPSS Presidents' Award in 2018, being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2021, and the award of both the David Cox Medal for Statistics and the Royal Statistical Society Guy Medal in Silver in 2025.
Professor Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb is Professor of Applied Mathematics in DAMTP, and Head of the Cambridge Image Analysis group. Her current research interests focus on variational methods, partial differential equations and machine learning for image analysis, image processing and inverse imaging problems, and the mathematical foundations of machine learning. She has active interdisciplinary collaborations with clinicians, biologists and physicists on biomedical imaging topics, chemical engineers and plant scientists on image sensing, as well as collaborations with artists and art conservators on digital art restoration.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter FRS OBE is Emeritus Professor of Statistics in DPMMS. He was previously Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, which aimed to improve the way that statistical evidence is used by health professionals, patients, lawyers and judges, media and policymakers.
David Spiegelhalter has authored several bestselling books and hosted multiple BBC4 documentaries. His career highlights include appearing on Desert Island Discs in 2022 and, in 2011, coming 7th in an episode of BBC One’s Winter Wipeout.
He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2005, awarded an OBE in 2006, and knighted in 2014 for services to medical statistics. He was President of the Royal Statistical Society for 2017-2018, and has been a Non-Executive Director of the UK Statistics Authority since 2020.
Professor Jack Thorne FRS is a pure mathematician with research interests at the intersection of number theory, representation theory, and algebra, particularly in the Langlands programme and arithmetic statistics. For his contributions to the subject, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2020.
Jack Thorne received his PhD from Harvard University in 2012, when he was elected a Clay Research Fellow, and has held positions at Harvard University and the University of Cambridge. He is the Kuwait Professor of Number Theory & Algebra in DPMMS.
Professor Wendelin Werner is Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in DPMMS. His research in Probability Theory has been recognised with numerous awards, including the Fields Medal in 2006.
The full list of Fellows is published on the Academy for Mathematical Sciences website.