Pure maths: university and YouTube

As early as I can remember, I loved maths. At kindergarten when we measured things using our hands, I realised immediately that sometimes I used just half or a third of a hand, and that there must be other fractions in between. I was fascinated by patterns and I loved doing logic puzzles. My mother is mathematical, and she showed me interesting bits of maths. So although school maths was terribly boring, my interest remained.

I got a scholarship to go to an all-girls school, and did double maths, physics and music for A level. Being in an all female environment helped me grow up uninhibited by gender stereotypes, but my family background was also important as my parents did not conform to typical gender roles -- my mother commuted to work in the City each day, while my father, a child psychiatrist, worked near home and spent more time with us children during the week.  Plenty of girls did science subjects at my school – though it was certainly more "cool" to be good at sports.

I was always longing to specialise in Pure Maths. I went on to Cambridge where I studied Maths and then did a PhD in Category Theory, the most abstract part of mathematics, looking at the underlying principles and structures. Women were in a tiny minority in Pure Maths (less than ten per cent of undergraduates, and no Lecturers).  Maths is still very male dominated, but I don't feel I suffer from that, because of my upbringing, my education, and my personality.

You are expected to move country a lot now if you want an academic career in Maths. Some people say that this is hard on women who have family commitments, but I think it’s inhuman for anybody who cares about family and social life. I was devastated when I left Cambridge after ten years there. Then I had two amazing years working in Chicago followed one in Nice, and each time I felt horribly uprooted when the job ended and my personal life was destroyed. I now have a permanent job with the Department of Pure Mathematics at the University of Sheffield so I won't have to move again until I choose to.

I continue to be obsessed with research in Category Theory, but at the same time, I am very committed to teaching and outreach. I’ve been using YouTube to explain Category Theory – it’s not really taught to undergraduates, but almost all maths PhD students need to know about it. My short videos (with my colleague Simon Willerton) have had 200,000 hits so far, and last year we won a prize from the University. Also, when I had to miss an undergraduate lecture, I delivered it by YouTube. And I put together YouTube pieces that give feedback on the students' work – the students love all this.

I have also started a YouTube outreach project for sixth formers to help bridge the gap between school and university maths. The other voluntary work I do is with a local primary school. I am passionate about education as the key to social justice. I believe that if you have knowledge it’s your responsibility to share it. So many people seem to be afraid of maths; I hope to enable more young people to understand and love maths instead.

Eugenia Cheng is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, University of Sheffield. There are links to her publications and YouTube lectures on her university web page.