What is MaPS?

The Mathematical Postgraduate Society (MaPS), is here to ensure that your postgraduate experience at the University of Sydney is fun and rewarding. We are dedicated to representing postgraduate students’ social and recreational needs. Run by a committee of students, it can help you make the most of your time at Sydney Uni. The Postgraduate Society is a good way to meet new people, and is one of the main sources of social life for postgraduates.

Throughout the year, MaPS organises socials, seminars and opportunities to meet other postgraduates, celebrate successes and gives the chance to relax from studying. The Society will help you to make memories and friendships that last into your professional life and beyond. We seek to ease the transition of new postgraduate students into the school by providing information to new students from the mundane - where do I find tutorial sheets? - to the more complicated - how do I get funding for overseas travel? Throughout your tenure at the university we organise a seminar at which students can share their area of research and hone their communication skills. We also organise more casual social events each semester. This is a great way to disentangle from an often all-encompassing research life in sympathetic company. For students eyeing the transition to post-study life MaPS is committed to organising professional development events at which students can meet employers and find out about opportunities outside of university life.

What events can you expect?

MaPS proudly organises a number of events throughout each semester; - End of semester BBQs - Trivia nights - Weekly Postgraduate Mathematical Seminar during semester - Professional Development events so you can meet alumni and employers If you have any more ideas, we are always open to suggestions. You can contact the social events team [by email] James Yang.

How much is the membership and how do I join?

There is no membership fee, or membership at all! MaPS is free of charges, events are funded predominanlty with support from The School of Mathematics and Statistics. If you are a new student, we will reach out to you near the beginning of your study so that you know what is going from the first few weeks. If you are an existing student, you can join/drop out at any time, by emailing us.

History of the Society:

MaPS, founded in 2018, is the first officially recognised postgraduate society of the School of Mathematics and Statistics, at the University of Sydney. The Society builds on the existing Mathematical Postgraduate Seminar Series (MaPSS) which was created in 2015 by honours students Alex Casella and Andrew Swan. MaPSS aimed to bring together postgraduates from different areas of mathematics and create a friendly environment in which to meet and talk maths with fellow students. After 3 succesfull years, MaPSS has grown bigger and bigger, setting the foundations for an official society. Growing from discussions by PhD students Alex Casella, Adrianne Jenner and Dominic Tate, MaPS held its first official meeting on the 24th of January 2018, when the first committee board was elected. Strongly supported by the school and a team of volunteering students, MaPS started running from the semester 1 of the academic year 2018.

Why MaPS?

Postgraduate study should not be limited to sitting in your office for eight hours every day. Without the opportunity to communicate our work in a professional setting, our learning and development is stifled. Meeting the other postgraduate students with whom we share a building or an office outside of a work setting will build a sense of community. The impacts of this can be as small as providing a sympethetic ear during stressful times to the possibility of potential collaboration. It is important that MaPS exist as a student-centered group focussed on meeting the immediate needs of the postgraduate cohort.

Find out More

To find out more about MaPS, contact Dominic Tate.

If you are interested in participating more in student life or have ideas about improving the student experience, constact our HDR Student Experience representative Cindy Leong.

If you would like to find out about social events in the school, or would like to run an event but would like some advice, contact James Yang.

If you want to present at the postgraduate seminar, contact Grace Garden, Yunwei Zhang or Wenqi Yue.

If you have questions about the website, contact Joel Gibson.