The Mathematics Group was established in 1986 by Professor A. Salam.

The first head was Prof. James Eells and Prof. A.Verjovsky was the scientific coordinator.  From October 1992 the group was headed by Prof. M.S.Narasimhan, followed by Prof. Lê Dũng Tráng (from December 2002 through 2009).  Currently, Prof. Ramadas Ramakrishnan is the Acting Head of the Mathematics Group.

The permanent staff does research in Geometry and Analysis.

• In Geometry, the main direction of research is Algebraic Geometry, Analytic Geometry and Topology.
• In Analysis, in addition to Functional Analysis, research is oriented towards Partial Differential Equations.

Every year the activities carried out by the Group focus on a specific theme. The themes of this year are  Combinatorics - Dynamical Systems.

The Group invites a number of mathematicians, including several post-doctoral fellows, for long or short-term visits, and also several Associates and Affiliates visit the Section. Each year there are approximately 140 visitors from different areas of mathematics, among whom usually 12 post-docs. In order to visit the Section, it is necessary to apply for a Mathematics Research Fellowship. The fellowships are from 1 to 12 months and one should apply before the 31 July for a visit to take place in the following year.

A Joint Colloquium in Mathematics is organized in collaboration with SISSA.