On the afternoon of Wednesday 26 November 2025, the MATLAB Special Interest Group held a re-launch event. Featuring keynote presentations by our new Chair, Dagmar Fraser from Psychology, MathWorks and UoB researchers. This session gave researchers the opportunity to hear more about the disparate use cases of MATLAB across the University, in the hopes of forging community and multidisciplinary collaboration.
Read on for a summary fo the event, and details of the next MATLAB On Ramp in February 2026.
After pizza, kindly furnished by MathWorks, Dagmar took us on a whirlwind tour of his career. He outlined how it has been serendipitously shaped by MATLAB over 27 years! MATLAB can be the common shared language in unusual collaborations – like Dagmar’s evolution from Electronic Engineering to Psychology. He introduced the support available for MATLAB users via this SIG, and outlined his fervent dislike of the new dark mode!
This was followed by our lovely MATLAB reps, Customer Success Engineers (CSE), Krishna Keerthana Chiruvolu and George Amarantidis (UoB Alumni) telling the SIG about what’s new in MATLAB. The new AI chat copilot integration, trained extensively on MATLAB’s rich documentation, was introduced. They demonstrated the many ways it can make code easier to generate, more robust by following best practices, and how to add tests. The also brought along some ‘merch’, hats, cards, t-shirts, frisbees! All of which were very well received. If you want to reach out to our CSEs email them here – Krishna Keerthana Chiruvolu & George Amarantidis Koronaios.
Our very own UoB researchers then gave talsk on how they have used and abused MATLAB
- Holly Middleton-Spencer – ‘The Universe in a Bottle’ – Simulating Cosmology with Cold Atoms
- Manu Entezami – MATLAN and Me: It’s Complicated (but it works)
- Kiran Phalke – From Data to Model Dynamics: System Identification using MATLAB
After a break, with doughnuts there was a hands on workshop led by George on
- How to promote interaction with your code
- How to make your code more accessible
- How to share MATLAB code (with everyone)
We would like to thank Dagmar, Krishna, George and the Advanced Research Computing crew in making this relaunch of the SIG memorable.
There is an intention to run SIG focused event each term, in addition to MATLAB On-Ramps (see below for the next event in 2026) and a Reproducible Science Hackathon at the Centre for Human Brain Health. The SIG’s relaunch will be the model for an annual event, with invited speakers, but we are looking for ideas for the other event in the next 6 months … that’s where you all come in. Please contact us, if you’d like to help or have ideas.
On-Ramps were run this term for the Mech. Eng. Society and the MSc. Space Engineering cohort. On ramps are gentle introductions to MATLAB, ~90 minute sessions with pizza and merch. Much less of an investment of time than the 6 hours Carpentries across two days. We anticipate another On Ramp on 26th February 2026 (flyer here). Do you want an On Ramp dedicated to your School / Society / Lab Group?
Dagmar Scott Fraser
<How to contact SIG / MATLAB resources>
- MATLAB Special Interest Group webpage or contact the chair, Dagmar directly.
- Teams MATLAB SIG sub channel on the General | Research Computing and Data Community | Microsoft Teams (email Dagmar and ask for the password if necessary)
- Mailing list – matlab-user@lists.bham.ac.uk – see joining instructions on the SIG page above.
- There is a MATLAB CANVAS page pitched at newcomers.
- BEAR hosted MATLAB Carpentries – book upcoming, or review previous recordings.
- The chair is also MATLAB Student Ambassador, and he maintain this LinkedIn group where On Ramps and other events are advertised throughout the year.