Organization of the ICM
The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the most influential meeting in pure and applied mathematics as well as one of the world’s oldest scientific congresses. The first ICM took place in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1897. ICMs are organized every four years by the International Mathematical Union (IMU) in partnership with the host country’s Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The IMU considers the organization of the ICMs to be its most important focus.
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 future areas of progress for the science. The ICM plenary and invited speakers are mathematicians of the highest quality, able to present current research trends to a broad mathematical audience.
The ICM opening ceremony is always a 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 new IMU award winners are announced, including Fields Medal winners. The significance of this moment is traditionally recognized by the presence of the head of state. IMU prizes are the highest distinctions in the mathematical world.
The ICM program includes a broad spectrum of events, including plenary and invited lectures, panels, public lectures, outreach events, social events, short communications, and poster presentations. 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, which is chaired by Professor Terry Tao of the University of California, Los Angeles. Click here for detailed information on the composition of this committee, its decisions, and its recommendations. In particular, the committee suggests holding about twenty plenary lectures, two or three of them designated as «special plenary lectures» with 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 drew up a list of twenty sections for invited talks and described their scope and size. See the information on invited talks for further details.
The ICM’s plenary and sectional speakers are selected by the ICM Program Committee (PC) of the IMU, which is chaired by Professor Martin Hairer of Imperial College London. The PC relies on input from the sectional selection panels, one for each of the twenty sections. Invitations to lecture at the international congresses are highly prestigious in the mathematics profession, and the PC performs 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 efforts with the IMU and have been moving through all the planning steps to make the next ICM a 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 on all local aspects of ICM planning and organization should be addressed to loc@icm2022.org. To contact the International Advisory Committee, email advisory@icm2022.org.
