British Combinatorial Committee

Who we are and what we do

The British Combinatorial Committee is a body which works for the support of combinatorial and discrete mathematics in the United Kingdom. The Committee is a charity, registered in Scotland, number SC019723. Its current constitution was approved at the business meeting of the BCC2019.

The committee’s function is to “encourage the study of combinatorial mathematics”. 

One of the ways we do this is by providing financial support for conferences in combinatorics. For the convenience of potential applicants, we have produced guidelines for applicants about what we can and cannot fund. Applications for funding should be addressed to the Secretary in the first instance. For further information, please see our Opportunities.

In conjunction with local organisers, the British Combinatorial Committee runs the biennial British Combinatorial Conference. It features a volume of proceedings entitled 'Surveys in Combinatorics', published by Cambridge University Press. As of 2022, the Committee awards a prize for the best PhD thesis in combinatorics completed at a UK university. We also publish the annual British Combinatorial Bulletin as well as the more frequent British Combinatorial Newsletter. Learn more about some of our Highlights.

History

The Committee was founded in 1977, with Richard Rado as chair. An article by Norman Biggs describes the prehistory of the Committee. Subsequently the chair was held by Dominic Welsh (1983-1987), Crispin Nash-Williams (1987-1994) and Peter Cameron (1994-2022).

Current Membership

Julia Wolf, University of Cambridge (Chair)

Andrew Treglown, University of Birmingham (Secretary)

Simon Blackburn, Royal Holloway University of London (Treasurer)

David Penman, University of Essex (Bulletin Editor)

Peter Allen, London School of Economics and Political Sciences

Candida Bowtell, University of Warwick

Jess Enright, University of Glasgow

Felix Fischer, Queen Mary University of London (co-opted, BCC30 Organiser)

Andrei Gagarin, Cardiff University (BCC31 Organiser)

Frederik Glitzner, University of Glasgow (co-opted, Postgraduate Student Representative)

Sophie Huczynska, University of St Andrews

Joseph Hyde, King's College London

Robert Johnson, Queen Mary University of London  (co-opted, former Secretary)

Tony Nixon, Lancaster University

Katherine Staden, The Open University

Most recent Annual Report

The Committee's most recent Annual Report may be downloaded below. For previous editions, please see the Archive section of this site.

Annual Report 2022-23

Minutes of the Most Recent Committee Meeting

The minutes of the Committee's most recent meeting may be downloaded below. For minutes of previous meetings, please see the Archive section of this site.

Minutes of the British Combinatorial Committee Meeting on 4 July 2024

Subscribe to our mailing list

Follow the BCC on X (Twitter)

Twitter