COW Seminar

The COW seminar is an algebraic geometry seminar, so called because it originally met in Cambridge, Oxford or Warwick. The COW has since grown and meetings, of which there are several each term, are now held in locations across the United Kingdom.

The links below should help you to find what you are looking for. You can also reach the same pages from the navigation bar on the left.

Next meeting | Mailing lists | Other events | COW archives

Upcoming Meetings

Further details of upcoming meetings may be obtained by clicking on the meeting in the list below. Details for the next meeting may also be obtained by clicking on the link in the navigation bar.

• COW in Warwick - Thursday 20th February 2025

  The next meeting of the COW will take place on Thursday 20th February 2025 at the University of Warwick. The meeting will start no earlier than noon and run throughout the afternoon.

  Speakers:
  • Karim Adiprasito (Jussieu)
  • Naoki Koseki (Liverpool)
  • Anya Nordskova (Hasselt)

Funding and Travel Claims

The COW has funds to cover travel expenses for UK-based PhD students and postdocs who do not have access to an alternative source of funding. We may also be able to cover some travel costs for more senior participants by prior arrangement. We are currently funded by the London Mathematical Society under a scheme 3 grant.

To ensure that we can fund as many participants as possible, we ask that participants purchase "advance" or "off-peak" train tickets where practical, and non-travel expenses (e.g. food, accommodation) cannot be covered except by prior arrangement. For those under the age of 30, we also recommend looking into getting a railcard, which can offer substantial savings on the cost of train travel around the UK.

To claim reimbursement for travel expenses incurred attending COW meetings, please download and complete the form below. Note that this link will download the form in Excel (.xlsx) format; if possible, the form should be completed and returned in the same format. The form is unintuitive. Detailed instructions are given below; please follow these carefully.

Travel Claim Form

Note: If you are based at QMUL the process is different and bookings must be made through the university travel agent. If this applies to you, please contact Navid Nabijou for details.

Instructions for completing the travel claim form

1. Fill out cells B6-B7 (surname and forename), F6 (address), F10 (email address), F16-F27 (bank details), C39 (signature), F39 (date).
2. Navigate to the "Travel" sheet (this is a separate sheet in the same document!)
3. For journeys by rail, enter the details of your tickets in the lower table, leaving the "account code" column blank. For journeys by car, enter details of your journey into columns A, B, and J of the upper table. The form will automatically calculate the reimbursement due.
4. Scan the receipts for all expenses being claimed and email them together with the completed form to Navid Nabijou (n.nabijou (at) qmul.ac.uk) with the subject "COW reimbursement". Please retain your original receipts until you have been reimbursed.

Please note that all expenses claims must be received within three weeks of the date on which the expense was incurred.

 

Organisers

General organisation of the COW seminar is currently carried out by a small group of cowherds, consisting of:

• Timothy Logvinenko (Cardiff)
• Navid Nabijou (Queen Mary University of London)
• Alan Thompson (Loughborough)

For the first 25 years of its existence, the COW seminar was run by Miles Reid (Warwick) and Gregory Sankaran (Bath), who still maintain an active interest in its organisation. Other former members of the organisational team are Anne-Sophie Kaloghiros (2017 - 2024), Clélia Pech (2017 - 2020), Alastair Craw (2020 - 2023), and Nicola Pagani (2023 - 2024). We also have an extensive network of local organisers, who assist with the planning of meetings.

But Where Are All the Cows?

We apologise if you thought this page was going to be really about cows, and are disappointed by all the mathematics that you found here instead. Perhaps try these pages instead?