Mission

At the Fields Institute, mathematics research, innovation and education flourish. We foster an inclusive, equitable and collaborative culture where everyone can discover mathematics, and where mathematicians can make meaningful contributions to the world.

Background

The Fields Institute is a centre for research in the mathematical sciences, established in 1992 to bring mathematicians from across Canada and abroad into sustained contact with one another. Its programs range in length from single workshops to residencies of several months or more and draw participants at every stage of a mathematical career, from undergraduates encountering research for the first time to senior faculty and industry leaders directing programs in their own areas of specialization.

The Institute's work extends beyond pure mathematics into fields with direct mathematical application, including public health, climate modelling, quantitative finance, information security and artificial intelligence. Its programming rests on the premise that advances in mathematics are most likely to occur when researchers from different institutions, disciplines and career stages are given the structure and time to work together.

Our Namesake

The Institute is named for John Charles Fields (1863–1932), a mathematician born in Hamilton, Ontario, and educated at the University of Toronto and Johns Hopkins University before further study in Paris, Göttingen and Berlin. He returned to Toronto in the early 1900s and spent much of his career arguing for a level of public investment in mathematical research that Canada had not previously undertaken.

In 1924, Fields organized the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, bringing together mathematicians from a wide range of nations less than a decade after the First World War had disrupted international scientific exchange. Following the Congress, he proposed an international medal to recognize outstanding achievement in mathematics and contributed to its endowment from his own estate. The medal was first awarded in 1936, four years after his death. Because the Nobel Prizes have never included a category for mathematics, the Fields Medal is commonly described as the field's equivalent, and it remains the most widely recognized distinction in the discipline.

The Institute established in his name in 1992 continues that work, supporting mathematical research at a national scale and maintaining Canada's standing within the international mathematical community.

Scope

The Institute organizes its activities in several forms. Thematic and Focus programs concentrate research on a single area of the mathematical sciences for a period of one to six months and incorporate workshops, lecture series and graduate courses. Workshops and conferences address more narrowly defined problems over a shorter period, frequently in partnership with industry or government. Ongoing seminar series, public lectures, and postdoctoral fellowships extend the Institute's activity to researchers who are not in residence for an extended program. Across each of these, the Fields Institute provides the funding, infrastructure and administrative support required for research collaborations to form and continue.