Helen Wilson

Helen Wilson became UCL's first ever female Head of the Department of Mathematics in September 2018.

Helen Wilson became Head of the Department of Mathematics in September 2018. She studied Mathematics at Cambridge before taking a postdoctoral post in Chemical Engineering at the University of Colorado. Her first lectureship in Mathematics was at the University of Leeds, and she joined UCL as a lecturer in 2004.

Her research field is rheology: the study of the dynamics of complex fluids – materials, like toothpaste and molten plastics, that have different flow properties from small-molecule liquids like water. These properties can include becoming thinner or thicker in response to flow, unexpected flow instabilities, and even crossover behaviour between liquid and solid, where the fluid retains some memory of its original shape even as it flows. Helen has studied systems ranging from solid suspensions and pastes to polymer solutions and melts, but her best known work remains a paper that came from an undergraduate project on chocolate fountains. 

Helen believes it’s essential to keep a sense of perspective by looking outwards – beyond the discipline of Mathematics, and beyond UCL. From 2015-2017 she was the first female President of the British Society of Rheology. She was a member of the Mathematics panel for the A-Level Content Advisory Board which, in 2014, designed the syllabus for the new post-modular qualifications. And since the beginning of 2019, she is a vice-president of the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications. She says “This is a very exciting time to become Head of the Department of Mathematics, working with Richard Chandler and the Department of Statistical Science to form a new Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Science, which aims to be London’s leading centre for research, teaching and collaboration in mathematics and statistics”.