Keynote Talk One: Hannah Fry: The Joy of Data

The Joy of Data

"I’ve spent the last decade working with data, hunting for mathematical patterns in human behaviour. In that time, I’ve come across some incredible stories - written solely in the numbers - that get right to the heart of who we are as people.

"In this optimistic talk, I’ll share some extraordinary tales about what’s happening at the very cutting edge of data science – a host of surprising and delightful stories that demonstrate how far you can go when we look back at ourselves through the eyes of data. And I’ll show you how a mathematical view of what means to be human can shape the way we design our society, from dating and healthcare to catching serial killers and everything in between."

Hannah Fry

Professor Hannah Fry is an Associate Professor in the Mathematics of Cities at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL where she studies patterns in human behaviour. Her research applies to a wide range of social problems and questions, from shopping and transport to urban crime, riots and terrorism. She is a mathematician, a best-selling author, an award winning science presenter and the host of numerous popular podcasts and television shows.

Her critically acclaimed BBC documentaries include Horizon: Diagnosis on Demand?The Computer Will See You Now, Britain’s Greatest Invention, City in the Sky (BBC Two), Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths, The Joy of Winning, The Joy of Data, Contagion! The BBC Four Pandemic and Calculating Ada (BBC Four). She also co-presents It’s A Numbers Game (BT Sport), The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry (BBC Radio 4) and The Maths of Life with Lauren Laverne (BBC Radio 6).

Hannah is the author of Hello World , The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus: The Mathematics of Christmas and The Mathematics of Love: Patterns, Proofs, and the Search for the Ultimate Equation.