‘Into the wild’ – Johanne Haugland receives funding for radical research idea

'Radical Research Ideas for Early Career Scientists' is a new initiative from the Norwegian Research Council designed to fund curiosity-driven and bold research that can advance the research frontier in any field. The call targets researchers with 2–7 years of post-PhD experience and supports short projects, to find out if your most riveting research idea is viable.

This call is the first step in phased funding and is aimed at researchers who want to test particularly bold research ideas. The ideas must be so bold that the risk of failure is too high to justify starting a large project, but where the research could have a significant impact on the field if the project is successful.

Wild algebras

Haugland's new project, titled "Into the wild: A geometric model for almost gentle algebras," is closely related to her current Young CAS work. “Both projects aim to increase the understanding of mathematical structures known as algebras. These mathematical structures serve as part of the theoretical foundation for any field of mathematical research, as well as for related areas like physics and engineering.”, she explains. 

Within representation theory of algebras, Haugland's research area, the aim is to understanding the underlying structure of such algebras. The difficulty of this ambition varies considerably, Haugland explains, "depending on whether the algebra in question is of 'tame' or 'wild' type."

Her current Young CAS project, Geometric Methods in Higher Homological Algebra, aims at building a bridge between higher homological algebra and the study of surface geometry, giving access to powerful geometric tools. The project tackles a fundamental question in higher homological algebra: "when these higher structures actually arise," as Haugland puts it. Since algebraic tools alone seem insufficient for this problem, her group takes a different approach, employing methods from surface geometry instead. "You could hence say that we aim to solve an algebraic problem by using geometric tools," she adds.

A steppingstone to FRIPRO

Haugland's new project extends this approach further. While her Young CAS project applies existing geometric tools to algebraic problems, this new project breaks new ground by developing geometric tools for classes of algebra "where this has so far been considered impossible."

The ultimate goal is "to build a bridge between the representation theory of wild algebras and higher-dimensional geometry, enabling exchange of knowledge and ideas between seemingly disjoint mathematical branches.", Haugland explains.

The Radical Research Ideas funding provides exactly what many young researchers need, an opportunity to generate preliminary results and establish the groundwork for this larger vision. Project managers for successful research idea projects may later apply for larger FRIPRO projects and be prioritized there. 

We congratulate Haugland on this achievement and applaud the Norwegian Research Council for encouraging bold new ideas from young researchers!