Irakli Patchkoria is a lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, working in homotopy theory. In this interview, he speaks about math-tennis balance, shares his experience of moving from Georgia to Western Europe and admits taking part in illegal actions on university exams.

Irakli's homepage: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/irakli.patchkoria

Photo: Irakli's private photo collection

0:00 teaser

1:13 epic story of family math

6:21 father’s advice

10:25 don’t work too much

14:41 experience in collaborations

19:02 Georgians and assimilation

21:47 making new friends (hey, Zurich!)

25:47 cheating on exams

28:38 you will have ideas for papers

33:48 don’t be afraid of stars in math

38:16 partying hard

41:25 drinking with mathematicians

43:41 math and the meaning of life

46:22 please make jokes in talks

48:53 helping young mathematicians