Mathematical biology covers research into the development and application of state-of-the-art mathematical or statistical tools and techniques to investigate biological processes and systems, including those of relevance to the medical sciences.
Mathematical biology covers research into the development and application of state-of-the-art mathematical or statistical tools and techniques to investigate biological processes and systems, including those of relevance to the medical sciences.
It includes research into the development of such tools for the mathematical treatment of biological processes operating at any spatial or temporal scale, or over multiple scales, from the molecular level to the whole population level.
This research area also incorporates novel combinations of existing mathematical techniques or novel applications of mathematics, which inspire new ideas in both the mathematics and biological science areas. Research in this area may incorporate aspects of complexity science.
Research employing mature or well-established mathematical or statistical methodologies to investigate biological processes and systems is not included in this portfolio and will instead be supported under other relevant parts of the EPSRC portfolio, or by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), or Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) depending upon the nature of the research involved.
The drive towards increasingly quantitative descriptions of systems and processes in the life sciences has stimulated demand for innovative mathematical and statistical tools and techniques to tackle biological and biomedical challenges.
This strategy aims to ensure that the UK has an appropriate research and skills base to respond to demand while delivering mathematically excellent research. EPSRC has established a complementary approach at the interface of life and mathematical sciences through active co-funding initiatives with other research councils (BBSRC, MRC and NERC).
We aim to:
- develop a sustainable portfolio of research into novel mathematical and statistical techniques for biological modelling, prediction and analysis in healthcare, building on the critical mass established by the centres for mathematical sciences in healthcare
- encourage increased collaboration and integration between statisticians and mathematicians working at the interface with the life sciences, and stimulate improved links between mathematical biology and areas of the mathematical sciences beyond traditional applied mathematics (for example geometry and topology, mathematical analysis, and statistics and applied probability). Researchers are encouraged to take advantage of mathematical sciences infrastructure to facilitate development of new collaborations
- enhance mathematical biology’s impact by encouraging closer links with other relevant areas of engineering and the physical sciences (for example, biological informatics, biophysics and soft matter physics and synthetic biology) and by promoting knowledge exchange between mathematical sciences, life sciences and end-users, including industry.