FACES OF MATHEMATICS

David Rand's main research work is in mathematical biology. He uses mathematical modelling to study evolutionary and ecological systems, to improve our understanding of the processes of biological change, and to develop new theories about the behaviour of ecological systems. Much of his work is driven by questions arising in experimental biology and in medicine, to which he applies deep mathematical theories and his own creative insights.

"The method of working for me is that here's a really interesting biological problem that people can't understand. It looks like the reason that people can't understand it is that it needs some mathematical understanding, and you need new ideas.

"It is a bit boring if you take some off-the-shelf techniques, and you run this problem through the off-the-shelf techniques and you get some answer. Much more interesting is if it needs a new mathematical idea, whether or not you can make that idea rigorous and develop a rigorous theory, or if you have to do some sort of approximate theory -- that's what is really valuable.

"You gradually develop a kind of internal picture of the area. If you can get that picture clear, then you start to make very rapid progress. You can ask all kinds of interesting questions, and you can kind of see the answers. It is the strength of that internal picture that determines the quality of the kind of work you do."