Meet our academics – Dr Christopher Frei

Meet the Department 10th October 2018

In this series of blogs, we chat to the academics you’ll meet, be taught by and work with during your time in the School of Mathematics. In this post, we catch up with Lecturer in Pure Mathematics, Dr Christopher Frei. We asked him about his work and what he gets up to when he can tear himself away from his research.

How are you finding Manchester so far?

So far it has been very pleasant. It took me some time getting used to the weather, but I really like the good public transport system, the proximity to the beautiful peak district, and the great Asian food one can get here.

With regards to your research, what’s your specific area of interest?

My research is focused on Number Theory, the part of Pure Mathematics where we study the whole numbers, integers, rationals and similar numbers. I find Number Theory particularly exciting because it draws its techniques from many other areas of Mathematics, for example Analysis, Algebra, Geometry and Combinatorics.

What were you doing before coming to The University of Manchester?

Before coming to Manchester I was a postdoc in Graz (Austria). Before that, I was in Munich and Hanover (Germany) as a Humboldt fellow. All this traveling and frequent moving was good at the time, as I got to experience many different places. But now I am happy that I have found a place to settle down.

How are you finding your new position here at The University of Manchester?

Having never experienced the UK higher education system before, I have a lot of new things to learn. But so far the experience has been very gentle. I am getting a lot of help from friendly colleagues, and in total there is still ample time left to pursue my research.

What’s been your favourite aspect of the job so far?

It is great to have so many students that are interested in the purer aspects of Mathematics. I am currently teaching a new course in Algebraic Number Theory, my specialist area, to 20 students. This number is quite low for Manchester’s standards, but the last time I gave such a course I had only 5 students, which made it quite hard to justify giving such a course at all.

We’ll have a new academic interview for you on the blog soon.

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