Professor John Toland FRS FRSE

John Francis Toland was Director of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences and N M Rothschild Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge from 2011 to 2016.

His research focus is in rigorous mathematical analysis of partial differential equations, especially those arising in hydrodynamic wave theory.

John gained a first-class degree in pure mathematics from Queen’s University Belfast. He then undertook a DPhil at the University of Sussex, studying topological methods for non-linear eigenvalue problems.

He spent several years lecturing at the University of Essex and then at University College London, before accepting a Professorship at the University of Bath. He was there for 29 years before moving to Cambridge and a Fellowship of St John’s College.

He has been published widely in international journals and has lectured widely via visiting research appointments at over 20 institutions across Europe, America and Australasia.

He is also an executive board member of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) – an international non-profit NGO that promotes international cooperation in mathematics. Through IMU, John has helped manage an initiative called MARM – Mentoring African Research in Mathematics.

He has consulted on a number of committees, including the Royal Society NATO panel and the EPSRC Senior and Advanced Fellowships (Mathematics) Committee, and he chaired the Mathematical Sciences panel of the Research Excellence Framework 2014.

He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1999 and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2003.