Sums add up for Cork maths students at international event

Four of Ireland’s leading young mathematicians have excelled on the international stage — and two of the four are from Cork.

Students Aifric Barron, Charlotte Walmsley, Roisin Spratt, and Siobhan McGale represented Ireland at the European Girls Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO), held at Bordeaux.

The international mathematics competition was created 15 years ago to encourage young women to pursue maths at the highest levels.

Achieving Ireland’s best performance, relative to other countries, since 2020, this year’s team faced two gruelling 4.5-hour exams over two days, featuring six complex problems drawn from algebra, number theory, combinatorics, and geometry.

Roisin Spratt, aged 16, from Ursuline College, Sligo, brought home a bronze medal in the international competition.

She started taking free mathematics enrichment classes run by the Irish Mathematical Trust (IMT) at the Atlantic Technological University in autumn 2024.

“Going into the EGMO, a medal wasn’t something I was expecting at all,” she said. “I was very happy, it was a really great experience.”

Aifric Barron, aged 16, from Mount Mercy College, Cork and Charlotte Walmsley, aged 17, from Scoil Mhuire, Cork, just missed out on bronze by two points.

The team was led by Dr Myrto Manolaki from University College Dublin, and deputy leader Maria Kiiko, a former EGMO participant now studying mathematics and economics at Trinity College Dublin.

This is the 10th medal for Ireland in 15 years of the EGMO.

This year, 67 countries from all over the world were represented, an increase of 19 more teams compared to the first 2012 edition of the competition in Cambridge.

There is a widening gender gap at the highest levels of achievement in Leaving Cert higher level maths since the introduction of the Project Maths syllabus, a recent study by the Society of Actuaries in Ireland highlighted.

Factors such as confidence, access to applied maths, and the style of assessment may be influencing outcomes, but the drivers are not fully understood.

Brian Grimes, chief executive of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland, said: “It’s fantastic to see the continued success of the Irish team at EGMO.

“In the actuarial profession, we see every day that women thrive at the highest levels of mathematics.

“That’s why the work of the Irish Mathematical Trust is so important, creating the conditions in which talent can be recognised and developed, and ensuring that ability is what ultimately determines outcomes.”

The IMT recently secured backing from online payments giant Stripe, which has allowed it to expand its free maths enrichment programmes across the country.

It has just set up junior mathematics enrichment classes in Letterkenny, Limerick, Galway, Maynooth, Sligo, Thurles, and Waterford, in addition to the long-standing ones in UCC and UCD.

All these centres are run by academics and college students in university centres, with support from the IMT.