Dr Matthew Westaway MMath PhD

• PhD in Mathematics, University of Warwick, 2020
• MMath in Mathematics, University of Warwick, 2016

Matthew Westaway completed an MMath at the University of Warwick from 2012 to 2016. In his final year, he completed a research project which was subsequently published in the Journal of Algebra. He graduated with a First in 2016, but he remained at the University of Warwick for postgraduate study.

From 2016 to 2020, he completed a PhD in Warwick under the supervision of Drs Dmitriy Rumynin and Inna Capdeboscq. During his PhD, he completed 6 research papers, individually and with collaborators, 4 of which have been published and 2 of which are currently being reviewed at journals. He graduated in 2020, after submitted his thesis entitled 'Modular Representation Theory of Algebraic Groups and Their Lie Algebras'.

He started a research fellowship at the University of Birmingham in 2020, working with Dr Simon Goodwin on the subject of representations of Lie algebras and W-algebras in positive characteristic.

In 2021, he was awarded a research fellowship by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 for a project entitled 'Simple representations of modular Lie algebras,' which he has held at the University of Birmingham from October 2021.

Semester 1

LM Advanced Topics in Algebra

Research Themes

• Reduced enveloping algebras of Lie algebras
• Representations of algebraic groups in positive characteristic
• Hopf algebras
• Categorical actions
• Induction theorems

Research Activity

Matthew’s research focuses on the study of representations of Lie algebras in positive characteristic. He is interested in the connection between this theory and the theory of D-modules, as well as the ways in which category theory can be utilized to prove results in this area. Relatedly, he studies the interplay between modules over algebraic groups and modules over their Lie algebras.