Maths at Work: Local Hero's – MATHS WEEK IRELAND

Maths at Work

Maths is all around us in our day to day life, it is an important part of a huge range of careers! Check out our local heroes below for more information on how they use maths to help them solve problems and work effectively.

If you would like to be a local hero, please click on the button on the right.

Become a local hero

Maths at Work Poster North

Maths at Work Poster South

As part of Maths Week TV, Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin moderated a highly insightful careers event showcasing the many professions involving maths. Featuring a dynamic panel of speakers with representatives from:

Met Éireann | The Central Statistics Office | Amazon

Allstate | Hanover | Sanofi

Gary Kinsella: Sport Performance Coach, Gary Kinsella Coaching

When I was in school, I was unaware of the importance of maths. I had hoped to study Computer Science in college but unfortunately didn’t achieve the necessary grades in my Leaving Certificate, including in maths. I started my career in banking, then progressed into the insurance sector which required a good understanding of maths. In recent years, I went back to college to study Business and then Sports Psychology.

I now run my own coaching business, working with football clubs and players to help them develop. I use maths every day, whether that’s in planning my coaching sessions, setting individual goals and targets, data analysis of player/team performance, or calculating the income and expenditure required to keep the business running.

Hillary Power: Quality Specialist, MSD Ireland Ballydine

My role involves supporting production, technical, analytical and regulatory departments to ensure that all activities are completed according to procedure, to ensure only the highest quality pharmaceutical products are provided to our customers and patients. The application of Maths features every day in my role. This may be the review of batch weights, temperature data or laboratory testing results. Sometimes the application isn’t always obvious like such as calculating your working hours or holiday balance (very important)!

Maths was never my strong point in school. I was terrified of higher level maths and chose to do ordinary level for the leaving cert. I then studied Industrial Biochemistry in UL and Maths was a core module in this course, as was the case in most of the science courses. I took advantage of all the great resources available to me to help me through the maths modules and successfully completed my degree. The key to succeeding in Maths is practice. The only way to learn maths is to do maths!

Robin: Business Analyst

Hey, I’m Robin and have been working as a Business Analyst for about 7 years now.

I struggled with Maths throughout Primary and Secondary school, I loved English but Maths went over my head for a long time! I loved technology and computers and soon learnt for a BA (and most jobs involving computing), Maths is a big part of it! I love being able to dig into a dataset and pull trends and themes that help shape businesses and drive change, there’s always something to puzzle out or solve. The role of a BA is changing with new technologies and systems, there’s always more to learn and keep educating yourself! I love how Maths can be like a puzzle to solve and am fascinated with working out various measures and logic to find the solution to a problem. Even today in my job I often use the tricks and tips I learnt back then to help in my role now!

Stéphanie: Artificial Intelligence Director

Stéphanie Dossou is an Artificial Intelligence Director at Mazars.

In my job, I use maths to analyse figures, calculate statistical values and interpret the results so that we can take some decisions based on this data. The results can also tell us a story that will help us better understand the problem we are working on – so that we can design better solutions. In addition, we have a budget for researching and implementing new technologies. I need to consider how much it will cost to implement new technology and if it will be helpful for Mazars. I can use basic maths to assess the costs of implementing new technology and decide if we have the budget to implement it. Whatever you do in life, maths can help you at any level now and in the future.

MingYang Lu Financial accountant for Abbott

MingYang: Financial Accountant

MingYang Lu: Financial Accountant, Abbott

Having a good knowledge of maths definitely makes my work life easier as an accountant. It also helps me be more confident in what I do. It’s essential to my job to be able to calculate correctly so that I can make sure all of the accounts for our manufacturing plants are done perfectly.

Laura: Data Analyst

Laura O’Hare: Data Analyst, Vox Financial Partners

I chose to study maths because I believe it is a versatile subject which can be applied to many different careers. As a mathematician, you gain important skills such as problem-solving, analytical thinking and clearly presenting your findings with logical arguments. I decided to choose data analytics as my career because I think it is fascinating to take a real-world problem, convert it into a mathematical problem and solve it using statistical analysis and technology. I use maths every day in my job, it is more than calculating numbers.

Berwyn: Purchasing Manager

Berwyn Jones: Purchasing Manager, Encirc 650

I manage the suppliers of packaging that deliver into Encirc production sites; including plastic, cardboard, timber pallets and others. The role involves negotiating contracts with suppliers and bringing commercial value to the business by reducing our costs while maintaining quality standards. Maths is an important part of being commercially aware and plays an important role when negotiating contracts and agreeing prices with suppliers. Understanding % changes, averages, trends all supports the analysis that we need to make on stocking levels and analysing the volume of spend we have with our suppliers, both in terms of commercial value and actual volumes (e.g. kilograms and square metres).

Rachel: Cognitive Science Engineer

Rachel Heyburn works as a Cognitive Science Engineer at Aflac Northern Ireland. What that really means is that I ask lots of questions, do research, find interesting problems and identify solutions to those problems by building Machine Learning models in a programming language called Python. Aflac is a supplemental health insurance company so we get to work on some very important problems – for example, can we predict if someone is going to get seriously ill in the future? Can we predict what the best treatment is for a particular illness? It’s very enjoyable working in a job that uses Machine Learning in an ethical way to drive positive change in the world of health care.

Dr Emma Whelan: Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental Physics, Maynooth University

I was always interested in science and in primary school I loved working on maths problems. But in secondary school there were so many new areas of maths, like algebra, that I struggled. My maths teacher told my Mum that I had no mathematical ability and shouldn’t do honours maths for my junior certificate. I knew that if I wanted to explore the stars, then I’d need maths, so I worked hard, and managed to get a B in higher level maths for the Junior Cert.

I had a fantastic maths teacher for the Leaving Cert. I ended up getting one of the highest maths marks and got a special award entering Trinity College when I started my Physics degree. If you’re genuinely interested in a subject and have a love for it, then work hard, and don’t be put off by negative feedback.

Alvin Johnson: Graduate Trainee, North Cork Creameries

I always looked forward to my maths classes in school and while I wasn’t the best at statistics, I always tried my best. Today maths is an essential part of my day-to-day job. Our systems are built on formulas and calculations and I use maths formulations every day to make my job easier – from creating excel graphs, to product grading and processing certificates for our customers. We make a lot of butter and powder products for different customers which all require certificates to go along with them. The use of maths has helped me to automate this process. This means I can focus on other important tasks which require problem solving and this also helps me to be more organised in my job.

Omar: Product Manager

Omar Reyal: Product Manager, NantHealth

As a senior product manager at NantHealth I am responsible for deciding which software product features should be built next, helping teams to build these features and reporting on how they are being used after being released. Some of the mathematics topics I use most frequently are probability, statistics and data analysis. I use maths every day to develop a plan and roadmap for different products. It helps me to keep track of my workload ensuring customers are always satisfied with our products.

Maeve: Senior Data Scientist

Maeve McAllister: Senior Data Scientist, Allstate Northern Ireland

I am a Senior Data Scientist at Allstate NI. I work within a department of data scientists who support the Allstate business, which is one of the leading insurance providers in the US. On a daily basis, I work with large amounts of data to build both predictive models and analytical solutions to inform business decisions. Mathematics is the pinnacle of my work. Studying Maths for A-Level and at university, where I gained a PhD in Applied Mathematics and Physics, has been integral to the work that I do today.

Laura: Team Lead, Accounts Payable Team

Laura: Team Lead in Abbott’s Accounts Payable Payments Team.

Working with large payment amounts and reconciling lots of details in many areas like raw materials, payroll, international suppliers etc, #IUseMaths every day to help Abbott deliver products to patients and hospitals around the world. Maths was always my favourite subject in school and every day when I use the tools I learned I am grateful that I had a wonderful teacher who always challenged me to do my best.

Roisin MaGuire: Buyer

Roisin MaGuire: Buyer, Gilbert Ash NI

I procure materials for large construction projects which can range from blocks, sand or cement to the interior aspects.  It is my responsibility to ensure materials are delivered to site within the project programme and within budget.  Negotiation is a huge part of my job to achieve cost savings where possible. I always had a slight interest in Maths but often struggled with certain aspects but I would definitely put more emphasis on my learning and ask for help more if I were back in school now.  I was not fully aware of how useful and important it can prove to be both in everyday life and most jobs, from learning to save for a mortgage or car to making your job easier.

Gregory: Quantity Surveyor

Gregory Patton: Quantity Surveyor, Gilbert Ash NI

I am a Quantity Surveyor working on a Construction Project which involves monitoring and checking the Project Cost on the Project against the Target Costs, and Assessing these against Project Value. The role involves ensuring the procurement of materials & subcontracts are procured within the Project Targets. Once procured and awarded the role also involves certifying the subcontractor invoices for payment. Maths is very important in the role of a Quantity Surveyor as nearly all aspects of the job involves numbers. Whether this be measuring to check quantities of materials needed (using area formulas learned at school) or working out money due for payment to subcontractors, maths play a role.

Rebecca: Data Scientist

Rebecca Watson: Data Scientist, Allstate Northern Ireland

Every day I use maths to predict the future. As Data Scientist, I build and develop predictive models that help us understand customers and our business at Allstate. We use complex mathematical equations to understand how likely an event is, understand images and extract important insights from text. It’s not just the mathematical methods that I learnt at school and university, it’s the problem solving skills and logical thinking that I learned too that help me to my job. Maths is at centre of so many things in our world today, from Netflix film recommendations to self-driving cars, it’s a fun time to be a mathematician.

Matthew Reid : Trainee Trading Analyst , Energia Group

Working on your maths skills will open so many doors, future employers don’t just see someone who is good with numbers; they see a problem solver, a critical thinker, and someone they want to hire. You use maths every single day, trying to understand it will give you so many opportunities to succeed both in school and in your future career. It might be hard to study Maths sometimes, but it will definitely pay off. You will thank yourself in the future that you took the time to work on your maths skills. In my role in Energia Trading, I am required to solve problems and analyse data on a daily basis; these are things which have a good understanding of Maths has really helped me with”.