nLab David Michael Roberts

About me

I work on bundle gerbes, 2-bundles, geometric stacks and internal groupoids and categories, and category theory more generally with a side interest in foundations. I have a particular interest in constructing examples in (low-dimensional) higher geometry.

From May 2022 I am a Visiting Associate Lecturer at the University of Adelaide, in the School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, and I teach in the Maths Learning Centre (NB this is an independent part of the university, not attached to the School of Maths!). For August–December 2022 I am also a casual lecturer for two pure mathematics subjects at Flinders University.

For March 2018–December 2021 I was a Research Associate (that is, a postdoc) at the Institute for Geometry and its Applications in the School of Mathematical Sciences at U Adelaide.

Previous to this, for July-2017 to February 2018 I was a ‘Level B’ Lecturer (=Assistant Professor in the US system) in the School of Mathematical Sciences. I was also a Research Associate at U Adelaide from October 2012 to April 2015.

I have also worked as an applied statistician/survey analyst/data analyst/consultant in the public sector, with 3+ years experience of daily work in the software SAS.

You may also find me on: MathSciNet, Google Scholar, MathOverflow, arXiv, ORCiD, Publons, or my blog, theHigherGeometer.

If you need it, here is my email: droberts.(fifth and largest-known Fermat prime)@gmail.[etc] or [first].[last]@adelaide.edu.au

Writing

Preprints

  • Classifying bi-invariant 2-forms on infinite-dimensional Lie groups (2023) arXiv:2311.03913. (submitted for publication)

  • Rigid models for 2-gerbes I: Chern-Simons geometry (2022) arXiv:2209.05521. Joint with Raymond Vozzo. (submitted for publication)

  • Homotopy types of topological stacks of categories (2009/2022) arXiv:2204.02778 (this paper was written when I was a PhD student, in 2008/09, but only polished and released on the arXiv in 2022). (submitted for publication)

Papers

Notes/Other

  • Explicit String bundles (2014/2022) arXiv:2203.04544. (Notes from a talk delivered at Herriot-Watt University on 26 June 2014 at the Workshop on Higher Gauge Theory and Higher Quantization)

  • A Crisis of Identification, Inference: International Review of Science 4 Issue 3 (2019), doi:10.37282/991819.19.2. This article was subsequently reprinted for the special collection “A Christmas Chrestomathy, 2014–2020”, in vol 5 Issue 4.

  • Class forcing and topos theory (2018) notes from my 2015 talk at IHES, doi:10.4225/55/5b2252e3092af

  • Comments on Mochizuki’s 2018 Report (2018) doi:10.25909/5c5ce1fda4b7c, (blog post)

  • No Ancient Scottish Evidence of Fifth Platonic Solid, Letter to the Editor, Notices of the American Mathematical Society 65 no 6 (2018) p 677 (link)

  • What do mathematicians think about their journals? Peer review quality tops list of stated issues, LSE Impact Blog, June 22 2016 Blog post (joint with Cameron Neylon and Mark C. Wilson)

  • Review of Mathematics without apologies: Portrait of a problematic vocation by Michael Harris. (publisher’s page) Appears in: Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, Vol. 43 (2016) No. 2 (journal pdf)

  • Contribution to The “Bounded Gaps between Primes” Polymath Project: A Retrospective Analysis, Newsletter of the European Mathematical Society, No. 94, December 2014. (page 19 of this pdf)

  • Review of Lectures on real analysis by Finnur Larusson, Australian Mathematical Society Lecture Series, No. 21. (publisher’s page) Appears in: Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, Vol. 41 (2014) No. 5 (journal pdf)

Talks

See here for a comprehensive list.

Supervision and teaching

See here for a list of student projects I have supervised and courses I have taught.

My contributions to the nLab are released under a CC0 license. This is essentially public domain, but works in jurisdictions where such matters are difficult. Normal academic standards do apply, so attribution of ideas where they are clearly mine would be nice.

category: people

Last revised on January 25, 2024 at 04:18:30. See the history of this page for a list of all contributions to it.