

Catherine Boulton
Senior policy adviser – the Royal Society
Catherine leads policy work on mathematical education at the Royal Society, working with RS ACME. She previously had a career in schools publishing and more recently in teacher professional development for a literacy charity. The Royal Society is the independent scientific academy of the UK, dedicated to promoting excellence in science for the benefit of humanity – it has long had a role in education. Since 2020, their education policy work has been looking to the future, asking what mathematical competences young people will need, in order to thrive in our data-rich world, and how the education system needs to change accordingly. In September 2024 they published ‘A new approach to mathematical and data education’ setting out our thinking.
Plenary: ‘MATHEMATICAL FUTURES – THE CURRICULUM AND BEYOND’
This presentation will tell the story of what informed our policy recommendations and how we hope they will influence the future for the better.
Charlie Stripp MBE
President of the Mathematical Association
Plenary: ‘FUTURE PROOFING MATHS EDUCATION’
Charlie is a passionate advocate of mathematics education at all levels, from primary school to university.
As Chief Executive of the maths education charity, Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), Charlie leads an organisation which plays a national role in mathematics curriculum development and teacher professional development. MEI plays a key role in the development and leadership of major government-funded programmes to improve maths education: the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme (AMSP), the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) and the Maths Hubs Programme.
Rob Eastaway
Author and Presenter
Rob is an author and presenter whose books include ‘Maths On The Back Of An Envelope’ and most recently ‘Much Ado About Numbers’ (about the maths and numbers in Shakespeare). He is the Director of Maths Inspiration, a national programme of theatre-based lecture shows for older teenagers, which recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. He is a frequent guest on BBC Radio 4’s award-winning podcast More Or Less.
Plenary: ‘YOU TOO CAN BE A MATHS GENIUS’
When Bobby Seagull calculated 45 x 400 in his head on TV, comedian Tom Allen described him as a ‘maths genius’. If that’s what it takes to be a genius, then most of your students can be geniuses too – whether they’re in secondary school or primary. And mental arithmetic isn’t just a handy life skill: it can build mathematical confidence, and it’s an excellent bridge into number theory, algebra and other areas of mathematics. Rob Eastaway will reveal his favourite tips, tricks and shortcuts that can bring out the genius in everyone.