Maia Woolf (she/her)

Hello! I am a PhD student, supervised by Tom Leinster; and a tutor; in the School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh. I am part of the Centre for Doctoral Training in Algebra, Geometry, and Quantum Fields. My primary research interests are category theory and universal algebra.

If you would like to contact me, please do so via email to maia.woolf@ed.ac.uk. Here is my (academic) public key.

Writings

• My MScR thesis, Algebraic theories all of whose algebras are free. This version has a couple of typos, but in the interest of open research, I'm making it available anyway. Public domain.
• Nilpotency indices of prime factor matrices: something small and very much not my area! Public domain.
• A one-page introduction to monads and distributive laws for non-specialists (aimed roughly at second-year (in the English system; or equivalent) undergraduates). Public domain. There's a typo: 'abbac' should be 'abbcc'.

Talk slides and notes

• Lawvere theories, Edinburgh category theory seminar, 2026-04-08, public domain. Some rough but detailed notes.
• Monads and distributive laws, Cambridge Mathematical Placements Presentation Day, 2024-08-21, public domain
• Constructing algebraic theories, Summer Research Festival, 2023-10-09, Cambridge, public domain

When I get around to it, I intend to make available the source files for all the above slides and writings. If you'd like a copy of any of them in the meantime, please let me know.

Other

I am a member of the University and College Union – join us!

I am staunchly anticapitalist, antiracist, and feminist. No one is illegal. I stand for queer and trans liberation. Things are bad, and they have been bad for a very long time. I am taking action, and doing so collectively. You should be too.

Some (possibly) interesting or useful, (vaguely) mathematical or academic links.

Wage transparency: how much I am paid.

Coda

I've been asked to say that any opinions expressed here are my own, and don't necessarily reflect the official opinions of organisations that I am a part of or am affiliated with. Which is their loss, since my opinions are great!

This sentence was last updated on 2026-02-05. These HTML files are public domain. Sitemap.