Abstract: 

I shall discuss my recent work showing that the Bogomolov-Tschinkel universality conjecture holds if and only if the mapping class groups of a punctured surface is large (which is essentially the negation of the Ivanov conjecture about the mapping class groups). I will also discuss my recent work with O. Tosic regarding the closely related Putman-Wieland conjecture.

Speaker:

Professor of Mathematics, University of Oxford

Prizes and Distinctions 

• Simons Investigator Award, (2016) 

• ICM Invited Speaker, Geometry Section and Dynamical Systems Section, Korea (2014) 

• Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (2014)

• Research Merit Award, Royal Society (2014) 

• Clay Research Award, awarded by Clay Institute (2012) 

• Whitehead Prize, awarded by LMS (2004) 

• Leverhulme Prize, awarded by Leverhulme Trust (2004)