Question: Although, “maths is one of the essential life skills you can learn in school”, as a scientist do you not feel that promoting a science workshop would be more beneficial to support your research and elevate people’s interests in it than advertising a mathematical one?

Martha Havenith answered on 16 Jun 2015:

Hi Chloe,
I wonder about this… obviously I love neuroscience and would like as many people to get excited about it as possible. That’s why I’m here after all! I also feel though that neuroscience happens to be my personal preference. As much as it pains me to admit :), not everyone absolutely needs to study or understand neuroscience. But ideally every young person would understand and appreciate mathematics. To me, it is the base language of all sciences (which everyone can then get into according to their preference), and the best entry point to understand a generally ‘scientific’ approach to life in general (along the lines of ‘Does this make logical sense when you take away the packaging?’).
So in a way, the choice to promote mathematics if I get to win may be more personal/connected to my research than it sounds. I got into neuroscience because I saw the brain as a beautiful system of interconnected neurons that all influence each other dynamically across time. Essentially that’s a mathematical view that I just happen to apply to the brain. I would love for many people to possess the same tools of thought, that they can then apply to whatever they love most.