They were taking part in a series of weekly online mathematics projects offered as part of EDT's Insight into University Summer School. Each mathematics project was led by a Lancaster academic, supported by Lancaster student ambassadors, and looking at a different aspect of geometry.

Lancaster University has been offering mathematics talks and projects at the Insight into University Summer School, formerly known as the Headstart Summer School, since 2013. The scheme, which also includes courses in engineering, computing and the natural sciences, has been fully online since 2020. Everything took place via the web, Google Drive and Zoom.

The four mathematics courses this year were taught by Lancaster academics Dr Jonny Evans, Dr James Groves and Dr Bernd Schulze with the support of Lancaster students Rhys Peploe and Abbie Wright. The topics were:

- Grid rigidity

- Fractals and randomness

- Counting symmetries

- Four-dimensional polytopes

Four groups of students worked on each project and produced a poster to showcase their discoveries. The sixteen posters are all available to view on Google Drive. The top three posters, as judged by Prof Alex Belton, Head of Lancaster's Mathematics & Statistics Department, were:

The Bronze Medal for 3rd place: Polytopes Group A

The Silver Medal for 2nd place: Symmetries Group B

The Gold Medal for 1st place: Rigidity Group C

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Prof Belton commented that all 16 posters were of exceptionally high quality.

Participants were also able to ask questions on student life at a live talk on 'Life as a Mathematics Student', given by Rhys and Abbie with the assistance of Charlotte Cullen.

The organisers hope that, in 2022, the Insight into University Summer School will return to being a series of face-to-face courses, with Lancaster's Mathematics & Statistics department welcoming students to our campus to experience some undergraduate mathematics while also enjoying campus life.