Dr Liam Baker completed his PhD in Number Theory at Stellenbosch University in April 2020 and has been a lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences there since July 2020. Before then, he completed his BSc with distinction at the University of Cape Town in 2012, his Honours with distinction in 2013, his MSc with distinction at Stellenbosch University in 2015, and worked for two years in industry as a data scientist in 2016 and 2017.

His research interests lie in function field arithmetic (in which his PhD thesis, titled “Drinfeld modular forms of higher rank from a lattice-oriented point of view”, lies), computational mathematics, as well as number theory and combinatorics in general (his MSc thesis was titled “Analytic methods in combinatorial number theory”). He is heavily involved in olympiad mathematics both locally and internationally, both by serving on various committees setting papers as well as training the next generation of olympiad mathematicians.

He would not have gotten as far as he has without support from many sources, not the least of which are a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship in 2012/2013 and beyond and bursaries from from the Sasol Inzalo Foundation for his undergraduate studies, from the Standard Bank 150 Programme for his MSc studies, from the Harry Crossley Foundation for his PhD studies, and from the Centre of Excellence in Mathematics and Statistical Sciences in 2019.