Mini Courses

Professor Apala Majumdar is full professor of applied mathematics at the University of Manchester. Apala was awarded her PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Bristol in 2006, followed by research fellowships at the University of Oxford during 2006-2012. 

Professor Majumdar is an internationally acclaimed expert in the mathematics of materials science, with over 80 research papers to her credit. Apala has won several prizes for her research, including a London Mathematical Society Anne Bennett Prize in 2015, two prizes from the British Liquid Crystal Society in 2012 and 2020 respectively and a Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award in 2022. In 2024, Apala Majumdar was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

The lectures will be delivered on Zoom and YouTube on January 31 and February 1, 2026:

• Lecture 1: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (Jan 31, Saturday) 
• Lecture 2: 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM (Jan 31, Saturday) 
• Lecture 3: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (Feb 1, Sunday) 
• Lecture 4: 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM (Feb 1, Sunday) 

If you are unable to join on Zoom, you can watch on YouTube using  links that will be provided later:

• January 31
• February 1

Open till Midnight, January 16, 2026.

This intensive two-day course is suitable for second year Master's students, Ph.D. students, and Faculty members interested in Mathematics.

We will give a brief non-technical introduction to liquid crystals, which are partially ordered materials that combine fluidity with the ordering of crystalline solids. We will introduce the main continuum theories for liquid crystals and then give examples of how these theories can be used to mathematically model real-life liquid crystal systems in an interdisciplinary scenario.

Lecture 1: Introduction to the Mathematical Modelling of Liquid Crystals

Lecture 2: Continuum Theories for Liquid Crystals

Lecture 3: Modelling the Freedericksz Transition in Liquid Crystal Cells

Lecture 4: Topology and PDEs for the Post Aligned Bistable Nematic Device

Anisa Chorwadwala, IISER Pune, and Pooja Singla, IIT Kanpur.

Email: minicourseiwm@gmail.com

Professor Mahan Maharaj, TIFR, Mumbai on November 8 and 9, 2025.  

• Lectures 1 and 2:  YouTube Lecture 1 Slides Lecture 2 Slides
• Lectures 3 and 4: YouTube Lecture 3 Slides Lecture 4 Slides

4 online lectures by Professor Tanvi Jain, ISI Delhi, on January 11 and 12, 2025.  

• Lecture 1:  Slides for lectures 1&2  YouTube
• Lecture 2:  YouTube
• Lecture 3:  Slides for lectures 3&4  YouTube
• Lecture 4:  YouTube

4 online lectures by Professor Mythily Ramaswamy, ICTS-TIFR, on November 30 and December 1, 2024.  The following links are to the lecture slides:

• Lecture 1
• Lecture 2
• Lecture 3
• Lecture 4

Lecture videos on YouTube

4 online lectures by Professor Manjunath Krishnapur, Indian Institute of Science, on November 9 and 10, 2024. 

Lecture videos on YouTube

2 online lectures by Professor M. Ram Murty, Queen's University, Canada, on October 19, 2024. 

• The Art and Science of Research (PDF)
• Habits of Research (PDF)

Lecture videos on YouTube

4 online lectures by Professor Neela Nataraj, IIT Bombay, during July 29-30, 2023. 

Lecture Slides (PDF)

4 online lectures by Professor Gurmeet Bakshi, Panjab University, during February 18-19, 2023. Links to recordings:

1. Lecture 1
2. Lecture 2
3. Lecture 3
4. Lecture 4

4 online lectures by Professor Rajeeva Karandikar, Chennai Mathematical Institute, during January 28-29, 2023. Links to recordings:

1. Lecture 1
2. Lecture 2
3. Lecture 3
4. Lecture 4

4 online lectures by Professor Balmohan V. Limaye, IIT Bombay, during November 20-21, 2021:

1. Lecture 1
2. Lecture 2
3. Lecture 3
4. Lecture 4

3 lectures by Professor Eknath Ghate, TIFR, Mumbai, during the IWM Annual Conference at IIT Bombay, June 10-11, 2019.

3 lectures by Professor Rama Mishra, IISER Pune, during the IWM Annual Conference at Shiv Nadar University, June 21-23, 2018.

3 lectures by Professor B.V. Rajaram Bhat, IISER Pune, during the IWM Annual Conference at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, July 14-15, 2017.

2 lectures by Professor K. Sandeep, TIFR CAM, Bangalore, during the IWM Annual Conference at University of Hyderabad, July 1, 2016.

2 lectures by Professor Girija Jayaraman, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, during the IWM Conference at IISER Pune, July 26 & 27, 2013.

2 lectures by Professor Uma Iyer, City University of New York, during the IWM Conference at IISER Pune, July 27 & 28, 2013.