Seminars and Lectures

Introduction

After a lifetime studying numerical methods for ordinary differential equations, I would like to make myself
available to share what I have learnt with other people.

I live in a remote corner of the world, as far from Europe as it is possible to live, and at the same time a great distance from North America.

Travelling to visit colleagues in other parts of the world is becoming increasingly tiresome and inconvenient but, at the same time, electronic communication is becoming increasingly more feasible and convenient.

In addition to living a long way from many other countries, there is also a difference in time-zones of about half a day from Europe and from 16 to 20 hours from North American Centres.

I welcome enquiries at any time about possible ways I could talk about mutual interests to individuals, groups of colleagues, and even to student classes.

The rest of this document explains some of these options.

Seminars that might be available

I have already tried giving one or two seminars to different groups of people and it has worked better each time I have tried it.

As I get more experience at giving remote presentations, I will be able to improve the way I do it.

It isn't the same as actually being there but sometimes it is the next best thing.

I am very willing to consider any invitation to talk about aspects of numerical analysis to anyone
who might request this.

I mightn't always say "yes", but I will do the best I can to give seminars or general talks at an introductory level,
or at a more specialised and technical level, if anyone asks me and it fits into my schedule.

How it is done

The approach I use is at the very low end of what is technologically possible.

Some sort of broadband connection is necessary and it is best if the people I talk to have a microphone and loadspeakers.

Starting with these basic components I use skype for the voice (and video) communication.
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For making my presentation slides available to an audience I mainy use a desktop sharing system, of which many options are now available.

By doing these things the right way it need not cost anything at all.

Possible lecture courses

While I look forward to giving occasional and individual seminars to people requesting them, I would also like to make myself available to give lecture courses to University classes.

These could be short sequences of lectures within a course taught by someone else and my role would be that of "guest lecturer".

Or, and this is more ambitious, I could take on the responsibility of delivering a complete course in numerical analysis or in a speciality within this overall subject.

If I did something as time-demanding as this, I might need to charge a fee for doing this, in contrast to occasional seminars where my time would be given freely.

Making it happen

If anything in these notes interests you, please feel free to contact me and talk about it.

The easiest way is by e-mail to john@jcbutcher.com