23 January – Frustration (in) Research (Fireside Talk)
Mathematical research can be thrilling, beautiful, opening new horizons. At the same time, it can be frustrating, nerve-wracking, and overwhelming. How can one cope when stuck in the nth dead end, and it feels there’ll never be any progress (ever again)? Is that normal, or is one the only one person who gets stuck? Everybody else seems to understand everything and make constant progress, publishing the next article…. The road to the doctorate and beyond, towards professorial positions is long, lonely, and seems never-ending – or?
We invite you to join us for a talk with Gavril Farkas, Andrea Walther, and Alexandra Wesolek, who will share their experiences and strategies for coping with set-backs, dead ends, and other challenges in mathematical research.
Gavril Farkas is a professor of Algebraic Geometry at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU Berlin), Andrea Walther is a professor of Mathematical Optimization, at HU Berlin, and Alexandra Wesolek was a Dirichlet Postdoc in the group of Stefan Felsner (Technische Universität Berlin) until September 2025 and is now a substitute professor of Theoretical Computer Science at Universität Potsdam.