People

Who is eligible to sign up?

Any combinatorialist working in the UK, including postgraduate students registered for a research degree.

What information is required in order to sign up?

At a minimum, name, institution and position. Only ac.uk sign-ups will be accepted from those with an active institutional affiliation. A non-academic affiliation or “no affiliation” is a possibility, though note that we expect all directory members to be research-active in accordance with the norms of the discipline.

What else can be added to a directory entry?

Personal/institutional webpage, arXiv author identifier and gender are optional. Gender will not display in the table but the table can be searched by gender.

How do I locate my arXiv author identifier?

Log into your arXiv.org account and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. The penultimate paragraph in the box labelled 'Author information' will contain your public author identifier (please include "http://" on the sign-up form). Further information on arXiv author identifiers is available here.

Can I sign up someone else?

No. Although we encourage you to encourage them to do so! As a safeguart, following submission of the sign-up/removal form, confirmation will be requested from the individual concerned before the request is actioned.

I signed up a while ago but haven't heard back.

You should receive an email to your institutional email address within a week of completing the form. If you haven't received this, please check your spam filter. You must confirm your sign-up by replying to this email. Your sign-up request will only be actioned if your confirmation is received (and should then be actioned within a week). If you do not appear in the directory and a week has passed since you confirmed your sign-up, please email britishcombinatorics@gmail.com.

I requested a change of details a while ago but haven't heard back.

If you asked for a straightforward change of details, your request should be actioned within a week and you should receive a message confirming this. If your old details still appear in the directory and a week has passed since you made your request, please email britishcombinatorics@gmail.com.

If you asked for your entry to be removed, you should receive an email to your institutional email address within a week of completing the form. If you haven't received this, please check your spam filter. You must confirm your desire to remove your entry by replying to this email. Your removal request will only be actioned if your confirmation is received (and should then be actioned within a week). If your entry still appears in the directory and a week has passed since you confirmed your wish to be removed, please email britishcombinatorics@gmail.com.

How will the directory be kept up-to-date?

The annual census date will be 1st September, at which point the directory will be archived for the year. Existing members, institutional reps and subscribers to the mailing list will subsequently be encouraged to update their entries and to encourage others to sign up. The census date is chosen to align with the traditional publication of the Bulletin and to capture updates/new additions at the start of the academic year.

What measures are in place to ensure that entries are correct?

• On initial sign-up a verification email will be sent to the (institutional) email address provided; 

• members will be encouraged to update their entry annually;

• where an entry has not been updated in three years, brief confirmation will be requested that the entry is correct;

• if no such confirmation is received, directory entries will be removed.

What is the role of institutional reps?

Institutional reps continue to play an important role by encouraging new PhD students and staff to sign up to the directory.

When was the directory launched?

In September 2024, subsequent to approval at the Business Meeting at the 30th BCC on 2nd July 2024.

What are the advantages over the present listings in the Bulletin?

• The directory will be easily searchable;

• the directory will be easier to keep up-to-date;

• individuals sign up themselves and no information is made available publicly without explicit consent.

Will the British Combinatorial Bulletin still be published?

Publication of the British Combinatorial Bulletin will continue in its current form for two years, alongside the online directory. The relative merits of each will be reviewed at the British Combinatorial Conference 2026.

Why not switch to the online directory straightaway?

For the online directory to be a useful resource, we need a critical mass of combinatorialists to sign up. While we hope it will be popular, we recognise that it may take some time to reach this state.