MA Honorary Member recipient 2018 - Professor Adam McBride 25 July 2018

Professor Adam McBride DSc, FRSE, OBE

We are delighted to announce that Adam has accepted Honorary Membership of The Mathematical Association.  He is one of a rare breed of academic mathematicians who has not only excelled at research level (as his degrees and fellowship attest) but who has an affinity for the learning and teaching of mathematics at all levels.  For the last thirty years he has been the person to go to if you want a talk to delight primary children, to challenge secondary pupils or to entertain and excite teachers – and always with energy, with enthusiasm, and with a humility that delights in the mathematics, at whatever level.   He is the person the Scottish Government, the SQA (examination board) and the Scottish media turn to for advice and comment on current affairs in mathematics and its teaching.  His OBE was awarded in 1999 specifically for services to mathematics in schools.

Adam has served the community of mathematics education in so many ways:

• Within The Mathematical Association: as Chair of Council (2010-2015), President (2004), host and organiser of the Annual Conference at Strathclyde University (1997); checker for Mathematical Gazette (2007 on); Closing Plenary at the 1999 MA Conference….and inspirational conference speaker for many years.

• Scottish Mathematical Council: as Chair (1996-2001). He was the inaugural recipient of the SMC Achievement Award (2016).

• IMO: as British Team Leader at four IMOs (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998); also host/organiser of the 2002 IMO in Glasgow.

• UKMT: as Treasurer (2007-15).

• SQA: as Chair of the Mathematics Subject Panel.

• Promoting wider engagement in mathematics: for example, he gave 9 talks in Maths Week Scotland 2017 - and then there was the rest of the year….

• Edinburgh Mathematical Society: as President (1992-93), having also been an office bearer for the previous 18 years.

• Masterclasses: he runs sessions every year in Glasgow/Edinburgh, and also contributes annually to residential weekend courses for pre-university pupils in Lothian and Highland.

• University of Strathclyde: research, particularly on modelling fragmentation processes, and inspirational teaching to thousands of undergraduates.

We hope that he will be able to continue to mathematically inspire and excite both teachers and students for many years to come.