The 2012 International Workshop on Operator Theory and its Applications (IWOTA2012), held in Australia for the first time, was a great success. It brought together mathematicians working in a variety of fields who share operator theory as a common theme.

The workshop featured high profile plenary speakers, including:  

      * Pascal Auscher (Université Paris 11 Orsay)

      * Joseph A. Ball (Virginia Tech)

      * Qui Bui (University of Canterbury)

      * Raul Curto (University of Iowa)

      * Ron Douglas (Texas A&M University)

      * Xuan Duong (Macquarie University)

      * Fritz Gesztesy (University of Missouri Columbia)

      * Gilles Godefroy (Université Paris 6)

      * Il Bong Jung (Kyungpook National University)

      * Rien Kaashoek (VU Amsterdam)

      * Jerry Kaminker (University of California Davis)

      * Igor Klep (University of Auckland)

      * Woo Young Lee (Seoul National University)

      * Svitlana Mayboroda (University of Minnesota)

      * Christian Le Merdy (Université de Franche-Comté)

      * Jan van Neerven (TU Delft)

      * Carlos Perez (Universidad de Sevilla)

      * Vladimir Peller (Michigan State University)

      * Iain Raeburn (University of Otago)

      * Ed Saff (Vanderbilt University)

      * Lixin Yan (Sun Yat-Sen University)

A total of 140 participants took part in the workshop, most from overseas. The participants enjoyed the mix of traditional IWOTA topics along with new and highly active directions of research. 

Both plenary and session speakers presented solutions to long standing conjectures, as well as fundamentally new approaches to certain problems. They connected operator theory to many other fields of mathematics, demonstrating the cross-cutting nature of analysis, and the global relevance of IWOTA meetings.

By all accounts, the workshop exceeded all expectations and by some, IWOTA 2012 was probably the strongest IWOTA since 1983.

Please see the IWOTA 2012 website for further details about the workshop.

Photos from top: Workshop attendees; Gilles Godefroy during his presentation; Iain Raeburn's presentation.