Alina Ostafe

Alina Ostafe is an Associate Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. She joined UNSW in 2013 as a Postdoc and has steadily progressed through the academic ranks to her current position as Associate Professor since January 2023. Her research focuses on the intersection of number theory and dynamical systems, with particular emphasis on arithmetic properties of polynomial iterations and Diophantine problems.

Dr. Ostafe received her PhD in 2010 from the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, following an MSc from the University of Bucharest, Romania in 2007. Her academic journey includes postdoctoral positions at both UNSW and Macquarie University before her appointment to the faculty.

Her research interests span several interconnected areas within number theory and dynamical systems. She investigates Diophantine problems, polynomials and rational functions over local and global fields, finite fields, and arithmetic statistics of matrices. Within dynamical systems, her work focuses on the arithmetic properties of elements in orbits and algebraic properties of iterates. This research bridges classical number theory with modern dynamical systems theory, yielding insights into the distribution of special points in algebraic dynamical systems.

An analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong focus on counting problems in arithmetic statistics, particularly concerning matrices with number-theoretic constraints. Her work frequently examines multiplicative dependence in various contexts, including linear recurrence sequences, rational values modulo finitely generated groups, and superelliptic equations. She also investigates the distribution of special points in dynamical systems, with applications to quantum ergodicity and character sums.

Dr. Ostafe has received significant recognition through multiple competitive grants:

• Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2026-2029)
• Multiple Australian Research Council Discovery Projects (2018-2026)
• UNSW Science Faculty Research Grants (2015-2025)
• UNSW Start-up Grant (2017)
• UNSW Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship (2013-2016)
• Swiss National Science Foundation Grants (2010-2013)

As an advisor, Dr. Ostafe currently supervises PhD student Muhammad Afifurrahman and has mentored several postdoctoral researchers including Subham Bhakta, Kamil Bulinski, Ali Mohammadi, Ayreena Bakhtawar, and Jorge Mello. She is actively involved in the mathematical community through her editorial role at Research in Number Theory and her organization of numerous conferences and seminars, including the Number Theory Web Seminar and the UNSW Number Theory Seminar.

Dr. Ostafe is a key organizer of the UNSW Number Theory Seminar, which has been running since 2015, and has co-organized multiple international conferences including workshops at BIRS, MFO, and CIRM. Her leadership in the number theory community extends to her role as co-organizer of the Number Theory Web Seminar, which has built an international platform for researchers in the field.