Organization of the ICM
International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the most significant meeting in pure and applied mathematics worldwide, and one of the oldest scientific congresses. The first ICM took place in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1897. ICMs are organized every 4 years by the International Mathematical Union (IMU) in partnership with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) from the host country. The IMU considers the organization of the ICMs as its most important activity.
The goal of the ICM is to present a panorama of mathematics, including all fields of study and different geographic regions, and thus point to the future directions of mathematics. The ICM plenary and invited speakers are mathematicians of the highest quality, able to present current trends of research to a broad mathematical audience.
The Opening Ceremony of the ICM is always a very festive event attracting the attention of millions of people from around the world — mathematics professionals and enthusiasts alike. At the opening ceremony, the names of the new winners of the IMU awards are announced, including the winners of the Fields medals. The significance of this moment is traditionally recognized by the presence of the head of the state. The IMU prizes are the highest distinctions in the mathematical world.
The ICM program includes a very broad spectrum of events including plenary and invited lectures, panels, public lectures, outreach events, social events, short communications, poster presentations, and more. The calendar of events starts taking shape about a year prior to the opening of the ICM.
Overall structure
The overall structure of the ICM is determined by the ICM Structure Committee of the IMU, chaired by Prof. Terry Tao of the University of California, Los Angeles. Click here for detailed information about the composition of this committee, its decisions and recommendations. In particular, the committee suggests to hold about 20 plenary lectures, with two or three of these lectures designated as «special plenary lectures» that will have a non-standard format. For example, they may be expository lectures on recent advances by other mathematicians, «bridge building» lectures connecting two fields of mathematics (such as a pure and an applied field), lectures given jointly by two speakers, or other experimental formats. The Structure Committee also determined the list of 20 sections for invited talks and described their scope and size, see the information about invited talks for further details.
Plenary and sectional speakers of the ICM are selected by the ICM Program Committee (PC) of the IMU, chaired by Prof. Martin Hairer of the Imperial College, London. The Program Committee relies in its work on the input of the sectional selection panels, one for each of the 20 sections. Invitations to lecture at the International Congresses carry a very high prestige in the mathematics profession and the PC does its very important work with the utmost care and diligence.
Organizing Committees
The Executive Organizing Committee and the Local Organizing Committee of the St Petersburg ICM coordinate their effort with the IMU and are going through all planning steps to make the next ICM a very successful and impactful event. In their work, they rely on the International Advisory Committee as well as input from mathematical organizations and individual mathematicians. Correspondence about all local aspects of the ICM planning and organization should be addressed to loc@icm2022.org. Use advisory@icm2022.org to contact the International Advisory Committee.
