About us

About the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science

The School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (SMSAS) is an established part of the Faculty of Science and Health and has recently seen a period of rapid growth, with academic staff numbers more than doubling from 17 permanent staff 5 years ago to the current size of almost 50 permanent academic staff.

The School has a wide range of expertise and research interests, including: actuarial and financial mathematics, data science, statistical learning, operational research, applied statistics and statistical methodology, algebra, geometry, discrete mathematics, mathematical physics and analysis, applied mathematics, mathematical biology, numerical methods and mathematics education.

The department offers a wide range of degree schemes at both UG and PG level, covering a variety of mathematical disciplines including Maths, Statistics, Maths with Physics, Maths with Computing, Economics and Maths, Actuarial Science and Data Science. Currently the department has around 220 UG, 450 PGT and 25 PGR students.

The School has benefited from recent heavy investment by the University, shown by the rapid expansion in academic positions, as well as the new £13m STEM building, completed in 2018.

Within the School there is an Exclusivity and Diversity team which encompasses the Athena Swan and the Decolonising the Curriculum teams. We currently hold an Athena Swan Silver Award.

About the campus

Home to 15,000 students from more than 130 countries, our Colchester Campus is the largest of our three sites, making us one of the most internationally diverse campuses on the planet - we like to think of ourselves as the world in one place. Set within 200 acres of award-winning parkland - Wivenhoe Park and located two miles from the historic city centre of Colchester – England's oldest recorded development. Our Colchester Campus is also easily reached from London and Stansted Airport in under one hour.

The campus features various additional food and coffee outlets which will be open during the summer. There is a campus shop which will be open throughout the Summer School, stocking all essentials (food, toiletries etc.). The campus has the expected facilities of a university including various the Bars (serving drinks and food, as well as offering pool, foosball and darts); the Lakeside Theatre, and Art Exchange, which often have shows and exhibitions throughout the Summer.