Past Events
From quizzes and socials to guest talks and our flagship Summer Ball, ADM Society hosts a wide range of events throughout the year. Here’s a look back at some of our recent highlights.
Intro to LEAN Talk
We were joined by Professor Kevin Buzzard (Imperial College London) for an introduction to Lean – the theorem-proving language reshaping how mathematicians approach proof.
31 October 2025
Halloween Pub Quiz
This year’s Halloween Pub Quiz brought a spooky twist to a fan-favourite event. Teams gathered at the Duke of York in Fitzrovia for a night of themed trivia and prizes.
27 October 2025
Headsolving Contest
Our Headsolving Contest saw teams of three putting their problem-solving skills to the test in a mental maths competition going far beyond basic arithmetic.
23 October 2025
Fireboy & Watergirl Tournament
Our competitors took on the nostalgic puzzle-platformer Fireboy & Watergirl in a fun speed challenge with some light-hearted competition.
20 October 2025
Film Night
A relaxing evening watching the Life Beyond documentary series.
16 October 2025
Freshers’ Pub Quiz
Our annual Freshers’ Pub Quiz brought students together for a night of trivia, prizes, and pints at the Duke of York in Fitzrovia.
6 October 2025
A Talk by the Financial Times
We were delighted to welcome Alan Smith, Head of Visual & Data Journalism at the Financial Times, for a fascinating talk on data-driven journalism. The discussion explored the use of blockchain data and constructing models to predict elections. The evening concluded with an engaging Q&A session and plenty of insightful discussion.
29 September 2025
Board Games Social
The Maths Society kicked off the year with a relaxed evening of board games, friendly competition, and conversation. A light-hearted start to the year that brought the community together!
24 September 2025
The Maths Ball
The ADM rounded off the academic year in style with a stunning end-of-year ball. Held at the Terrace Bar with sweeping views of the Thames and St Paul’s Cathedral, the evening was a chance for students to relax, celebrate, and enjoy live music and dancing in great company. A well-earned night of glamour and joy to mark the close of another incredible year.
31 May 2025
ADM Talk Series: Set Theory
We were pleased to host Dr Samuel Coskey for a talk on Set Theory and Classification Problems. Attendees were introduced to the idea of understanding classification problems through the lens of set theory and equivalence relations, offering a structured way to approach the complexity of mathematical classification. A fascinating session for anyone curious about the deeper logic underlying mathematical organisation.
5 February 2025
Tom Rocks Maths
Tom Rocks Maths delivered a brilliant talk on his PhD research into ocean pollution, bringing fluid dynamics to life with flair. Everyone left entertained and informed, thanks to his signature blend of maths, storytelling, and personality.
28 January 2025
Integration Bee Round 2
UCL students travelled to the Andrew Wiles Building in Oxford to take part in the second round of the national Integration Bee. The competition brought together top teams from across the country for a fun and fast-paced evening of problem-solving. Well done to everyone who represented UCL!
27 January 2025
Feliks Zemdegs: The Speed Cubers
The UCL Maths Society welcomed legendary speedcuber Feliks Zemdegs for a special evening. Attendees enjoyed a screening of The Speed Cubers documentary, followed by a Q&A with Feliks himself – a world champion who’s broken over 120 world records. A unique and memorable night for cubing fans and newcomers alike!
18 November 2024
Integration Bee Round 1
This November, UCL students took part in the first round of the national Integration Bee, hosted by the University of Oxford. Participants worked through a challenging set of integrals in teams, with the top performers set to progress to the next stage of the competition. A big thank you to everyone who participated – we’re excited to see how far our teams will go in the competition!
12 November 2024
ADM Talk Series: Maths x Biology
For the first talk in our series of maths talks, Dr Benjamin Walker gave a fantastic insight into how mathematical intuition plays a role in biology. From modelling microscopic swimmers to exploring asymptotic methods and interactivity, attendees were taken on a journey through applied techniques with real-world impact. Thank you to everyone who attended and engaged with the maths behind the biology!
29 October 2024
Art Social
For our first art social of the year, students joined us for a relaxed evening of creativity, sketching and painting pieces loosely inspired by mathematical objects. Whether following prompts or doing their own thing, everyone had the chance to unwind, snack, and get to know each other in a cosy setting. Thank you to all who came and got involved!
17 October 2024
Fresher’s Pub Quiz
To kick off the new academic year, the UCL Maths Society welcomed students with our first social of the term – a buzzing evening at the pub filled with conversation, laughter, and new connections. It was a brilliant turnout and the perfect way to break the ice before term got into full swing!
3 October 2024
The Maths Ball
The ADM had a fantastic end-of-year ball where students had a chance to relax, unwind, listen to live music, sing, and dance after a busy academic year.
24 May 2024
The Reach of Mathematics Talk 4: Chemistry
Professor Graham Worth wrapped up our Reach of Mathematics series with a fascinating talk on the challenges of solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. As a theoretical chemist, he shed light on how mathematics and quantum chemistry intertwine, and how mathematicians can contribute through numerical analysis. It was an eye-opening session that showed just how critical maths is to understanding the tiniest building blocks of the universe.
20 March 2024
Chess Competition
Following last year’s success, ADM hosted another intense chess tournament featuring ten rounds of round-robin play. Ioannis and Arya tied for first place, both securing eight wins and sharing the only draw of the event. Jeffery placed second, with Antonio and Arseny sharing third. A big thank you to all participants and to Ioannis, the Philosophy Department, and the Greek and Latin Department for providing boards. Well played, and congratulations to everyone who took part!
19 March 2024
Bletchly Park Trip
The ADM were glad to be able to fund a fascinating trip to Bletchley Park, the location at which British Cryptologists, including Turing and Welchman, cracked the German Enigma-Machine(s) encrypted secret messages! The trip was an inspiring opportunity for people to not only appreciate the work of Allen Turing, but the work of the hundreds of men and women (over 3 quarters were in fact women) who took part in the breaking of both the German and Japanese codes!
16 March 2024
The Reach of Mathematics Talk 3: CASA
Professor Elsa Arcaute from UCL’s Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis delivered a fascinating talk on how cities form complex, fractal structures shaped by human interactions and urban dynamics. The session introduced attendees to multifractal analysis as a powerful tool in understanding spatial variation – and opened minds to career paths in urban systems and interdisciplinary research.
13 March 2024
Python Coding Competition
To conclude our academic competition series, we challenged students with an exciting coding showdown. From estimating π to exploring circular primes and superpermutations, the event celebrated mathematical creativity and programming skill. Congratulations to Jennifer Wang for an incredible 76,000-digit superpermutation and solving Landau’s function up to its 95th value! Special mention to Arseny for getting impressively close to the elusive Feigenbaum constant.
5 March 2024
The ADM Pub Quiz
The ADM had a blast with the variety of questions in our pub quiz, and the friendly competition that we engaged with. The winners, Teren, Jennifer and Isaac managed to best the rest, and took home 4 prizes! We would like to emphasise the large number of non-maths students, and are proud to have made such a vast outreach from students across the university. Thank you all to coming, we wish you all the best in your reading week!
1 March 2024
The Reach of Mathematics Talk 2: Biology
In our second talk, Professor Robert Insall explored how mathematical modelling and biology come together to understand chemotaxis – the way cells sense and move through chemical gradients. Focusing on self-generated gradients, the talk highlighted surprising, emergent behaviours that modelling helps to explain. It was a powerful reminder of how collaboration between disciplines can unlock discoveries beyond the reach of experiments alone.
28 February 2024
AmplifyME Simulation
Students joined us for a hands-on simulation session run by AmplifyME, offering insight into careers in Asset Management and Sales & Trading. The event combined teaching with practical challenges, giving participants a real taste of the finance world. Top performers earned fast-track opportunities with Morgan Stanley, and all attendees received certificates. Thanks to AmplifyME for such an enriching experience!
27 February 2024
The Reach of Mathematics Talk 1: Philosophy
To kick off our interdisciplinary talk series, we teamed up with the Philosophy Society to explore the intersection of maths and philosophy. Professor Tim Button delivered a thought-provoking talk on mathematical objects and the foundations of set theory, prompting the audience to reflect on how abstract ideas are structured and understood. A big thank you to Professor Button and everyone who attended – it was a fantastic start to the series!
21 February 2024
Countdown Competition
For our third academic competition the ADM decided to run a competition based on the famous UK game show Countdown! However, this time there was a twist. Contestants not only worked in integers, but with 3 dimensional vectors and gaussian integers, topped off with a prime factorisation as a conundrum. After a gruelling number of rounds, Maïlys came out with the most points and won the game!
23 January 2024
Board Game Social
The Board game Social worked so well last term, that we decided to kick it off again this term! We had a range of students attending from 1st to 4th year. It served not only as an enjoyable activity before we get into the full swing of things for the year, but also as a way for the year 1 students to have a fun and relaxing break between their term 1 exams and their term 2 studies!
14 January 2024
STEM Ball
To wrap what has been a long 11 weeks of term, The ADM has teamed up with the other STEM societies to hold a ball to celebrate the achievements and hard work of all students in the field of STEM. We hope all involved have a relaxing break and enjoy the holidays. Thank you to all the societies that came together to make this event happen, to all the students who made the day that one bit more exciting!
15 December 2023
National Integration Bee
We’re proud to announce an exceptional performance by UCL in the first round of the National Integration Bee! With 18 students across 6 teams, all outperforming the lowest quartile nationally, our top team even matched the scores of Cambridge’s upper quartile. A huge congratulations to everyone who took part, and best of luck to those progressing to Round 2 next term. Many thanks to the Integration Bee team for this exciting opportunity!
30 November 2023
ADM Integration Bee
The second of series of ADM academic competitions, the integration bee saw many students taking part in a challenging 2 and a half hour exam of integrals. We are glad to say students made a vast array of creative solutions which even we did not consider; and are excited to see what UCL has to offer for the National competition the week after. Thank you all for taking part, and congratulations to Travor Liu for scoring the top score, a whopping 79%.
23 November 2023
Year 1 Board Games Social
After returning from reading week, ADM and the UCl maths wellbeing team wanted to keep the momentum going with the Year 1 students; in our very own common room we hosted a social event for students to play board games such as chess, coupled with biscuits and other treats. We would like to thank all those who joined, and to thank Eimear, for orchestrating the session with the ADM.
15 November 2023
Halloween Costume Competition
This Halloween, the ADM celebrated by encouraging students to go to lectures in their best halloween costumes. The students came to UCL in costumes ranging from Luigi to Femboy maids. Students had blast taking pictures with each other. The year 2 students capped off their day by asking their lecturer to judge the best costume.
31 October 2023
Board Games Social
To kick off the academic year, the ADM hosted a lively evening of board games open to all. With classics like Chess, Family Fortunes, and Pictionary on the tables, students came together for a night of fun, friendly competition, and laughter. The strong turnout and great atmosphere set a brilliant tone for the year ahead—thank you to everyone who joined!
11 October 2023
UCL Maths Society 