B10: Mathematical Sciences

The OU’s mathematics research is fuelling innovation in industry, medicine and public health.

Research specialisms

• Pure maths: analysis, complex dynamics, geometry, combinatorics, graph theory, history of mathematics
• Applied maths: theoretical solid state physics, statistical physics, mathematical physics, aperiodic order
• Statistics: multivariate statistics, Bayesian statistics, medical statistics, distribution theory

Headline results

• 62% of OU research was assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent (4* or 3*) for its overall quality
• 75% of OU research was assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent (4* or 3*) for its research outputs

Research highlights

Our applied mathematics research led to the development and commercial manufacture of a new type of computer hard disk with significantly increased storage capacity.

Novel statistical methods developed at the OU have made it possible to draw useful inferences from the performance of just one patient. These methods have become the standard way of analysing single-patient studies in the field of neuropsychology, and are widely used by practising neuropsychologists to evaluate their patients.

OU research has developed the self-controlled case series (SCCS) method, which provides a cheap, rapid and reliable method for assessing the safety of a whole range of medications, including vaccines for epidemics. The method has been recommended by international agencies (WHO, ECDC) and is now widely used by health practitioners within national public health agencies.