The international Mathematical Competition for University Students (ICM)is an annual event, and this year it took place in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, from August 1 to August 7. The UNNC participated in the contest, for the first time, with a team of four members, Zifan Hua, Feng Jiang, Chuang Li, and Bo Ying, all from the Department of Mathematical Sciences. The team was led by Dr Hamidreza Daneshpajouh, assistant professor of mathematics.

The team members were selected through a series of internal competitions, and prior to the actual contest they went through a very intensive training programme that involved five staff members of the department; namely, Dr Hamidreza Daneshpajouh, Dr Jun Fan, Dr Daniele Garrisi, Dr Elio Espejo, and Dr Hayk Mikayelyan.

This year due to Covid 19 epidemic, the format of the participation was two types, online or face-to-face; the UNNC team opted for the former. One hundred leading universities across the globe took part in the event, including five of the team from China. We are pleased to announce that the UNNC team performed amazingly well in the contest. The team ranked 51 overall,  first amongst participating teams from China. On individual basis, Zifan Hua received a second prize (silver medal), and Chuang Li a third prize (Bronze medal). Feng Jiang and Bo Ying received honourable mentions. 

The Department of Mathematical Sciences congratulates the UNNC team for their amazing achievement, and will organise a celebration for this purpose which will take place in the beginning of the Autumn semester. We look forward to many more milestones achieved by our hard working students.