Roger Picken awarded a European Inventor Network grant

01/09/2026

Roger Picken has been awarded a grant from the European Inventor Network for the outreach project Hands-on Mathematics via Rational Tangles and Beyond.

The project aims to bring mathematics closer to secondary school students through interactive and hands-on activities, showing both the beauty of mathematics and its potential applications. At the heart of the project is an engaging presentation based on Conway’s rational tangles, in which students use two ropes to explore the connection between rational numbers and topology.

The initiative will involve around 100 9^th-grade students at a secondary school in Benfica, Lisbon, including a class of deaf students. Through highly visual and participatory activities, the project seeks to encourage students to explore mathematics in a fun and surprising way, while raising awareness of its broader applications and potentially inspiring future interest in STEM fields.

The project builds on Roger Picken’s extensive experience in mathematics outreach, which includes activities with school and university students, university Open Days, and the European Researchers’ Night.