The Sparkling Science project MAJA – Mathematische Algorithmen für Jedermann Analysiert or Mathematical Algorithms Analysed for Everyone – will start at the Department of Mathematics in autumn 2022. From a total of 168 project applications from all disciplines, MAJA was one of 34 projects to receive funding.

MAJA researchers are working together with students from the HTL Braunau and the Akademisches Gymnasium Salzburg. The Paris Lodron University Salzburg (PLUS) will focus on research topics in mathematical algorithms. The project topics are combined with didactic concepts, as developed in cooperation with the Salzburg University of Education Stefan Zweig.

“Nowadays, mathematical algorithms are becoming increasingly prevalent and have a huge influence on our digital everyday life,” explains project leader Clemens Fuchs, Professor at the PLUS. This makes it necessary to raise awareness of how they work, the problems they pose and their limitations. Together with the students of the partner schools, the MAJA team wants to disseminate the project results to the public and thus contribute to a better understanding of algorithms in society.

The EMMA project

The project team can draw on its good experience with the Sparkling Science project EMMA, which the Department of Mathematics also carried out from 2014 to 2017 with students from the HTL Braunau and the Akademisches Gymnasium Salzburg. Andreas Schröder, Head of Department and member of the MAJA team: “In a way, EMMA is the blueprint for its successor MAJA. Activities such as workshops in Strobl am Wolfgangsee and in Sirince in Turkey, the final participation in the Science Slam in Vienna and the Young Science seal of approval for the HTL Braunau got the students excited about science at the time. We want to repeat or even surpass that with MAJA.

Connecting schools and science

The optional subject “University Mathematics” at the HTL Braunau and the elective module “Algorithms are omnipresent” at the Akademisches Gymnasium establish the connection between the students and the researchers. “The special offers at the partner schools form the framework for the students’ participation in the project,” says Wolfgang Schmid from the MAJA team, who is also a teacher at the HTL Braunau. “The external events, such as workshops lasting several days or competitions, will also be real highlights for the students.

Through their participation in the MAJA project, the students not only gain mathematical know-how or learn about the application of algorithms in research. An important added value is that they get a taste of everyday university life and experience how academic research works. In keeping with the Sparkling Science idea, MAJA promotes reflection on science, mathematics and their significance for both the individual and society.

MAJA is funded for the next three years by the Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation (OeAD) at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg. Click here to go to the project homepage

The Sparkling Science funding programme implements ambitious Citizen Science projects in which research institutes work together with schools to address current scientific topics.