The Fields Institute was conceived as a place where mathematics research, innovation and education could flourish.
From our beginnings in a dark barn in Waterloo to the sun-filled space where we are now, one thing remains constant: our desire to foster an inclusive, equitable and collaborative culture where everyone can discover mathematics, and where mathematicians make meaningful contributions to the world.
In the early 1990s, just as a group of professors had mobilized to establish a national institute that would serve as a hub for the mathematical talent across Canada, an important question arose.