1. When did you realize that mathematics would be your profession? 

At school, I was good at many subjects, especially mathematics and languages. For a long time, the path everyone around me expected was economics; it felt like the sensible choice. But when I had to choose, I realized economics did not interest me. Mathematics did. What convinced me was how universal and essential mathematics is. It appears everywhere, it is always needed, and it stays relevant no matter how the world around us changes. And most importantly: I genuinely enjoyed it. That combination made the decision easy. During my Master's, I started teaching, which I found to be a deeply rewarding part of the work. Even in later years, when my positions focused entirely on research, I actively sought out opportunities to be in the classroom. This, combined with the intellectual freedom of pursuing my own research questions and the support of the awesome international community, clarified everything: mathematics wasn't just a subject - it was the life I wanted to build. 

2. Can you describe your research for non-experts? 

I work in Computability Theory. We ask: What exactly can algorithms solve, and where are the absolute limits of computation? This is the core question. More specifically, I work in Computable Structure Theory. I look at mathematical structures from an algorithmic point of view: 

  • How much information do you need to describe them?
  • How complex are the algorithms that analyze or classify them?
  • And when do two computable structures count as the same in an algorithmic sense?

More recently, I've also been working on learning in computable mathematics trying to under stand what can be learned from data in a fully algorithmic way. 
In very simple terms: I study the boundary between what we can know, what we can compute, and what we can learn. 

3. Who supported you most in your career, and how important was that support? 

I have received support in many different forms, and all of it mattered. My family has been essential. My mother encouraged me from the start, even when my decisions didn't follow the usual expectations. Today, my husband and children are my strongest supporters; they keep me grounded and remind me why I love what I do. The computability and logic community also played a big role. I have benefited from colleagues who offered advice, collaboration, and encouragement at exactly the right moments. And both the FWF and TU Wien were essential institutional partners. The combination of my Elise Richter project and the TU Wien excellence program led to my permanent position, and I always felt supported when I needed flexibility concerning teaching and working hours after the birth of my children. This mix of personal support, scientific community, and institutional structures has shaped my path more than anything else.

4. What scientific achievements are you most proud of, and why? 

I am proud of my work on degrees of categoricity. It helped clarify the complexity of isomorphisms in computable structures, and the paper became a key reference in the field. That work shaped my later research. My Elise Richter project was also a key milestone. It gave me the freedom to develop my research independently and ultimately led to my permanent position, which had a huge impact on the direction of my career. I am also very proud of the group I built through my current project. It focuses on learning in computable structure theory and is now one of the largest computability research groups in Europe. Creating this strong environment and supporting young researchers is the achievement that means the most. 

5. You received many grants. What challenges did you face while writing them, and how did they in influence your career?

The biggest challenge was internal: believing that my ideas were strong enough to deserve funding. Writing a proposal forces you to take something intuitive and far-reaching and explain why it matters. That is not always easy in a theoretical field, where impact is often subtle and long-term. But over time, grant writing helped me see my own research agenda more clearly. Each grant not only supported my work financially; it opened new research directions, built collaborations, and allowed my group to grow. It shaped my career in a very real way.

 6. How important are female role models in mathematics? Do you have any? 

Female role models matter a lot. They make possibilities visible and help create an environment where women feel they belong. My first logic professor, Larisa Maksimova, a world-leading specialist in non-classical logics, influenced me early by showing how rigorous and confident work in logic can look. Later, during my PhD, I spent a year at the University of Notre Dame working with Julia Knight, one of the most prominent computability-theorists worldwide, whose expertise and kindness left a strong impression on me. At Notre Dame, I also attended my first women-only mathematics lunch. It was the first time I experienced a space where women talked openly about their careers and challenges. That moment showed me how powerful such communities can be. 

7. What advice would you give to young people who want to become mathematicians? And what would you tell your younger self?

Choose mathematics because you're truly interested in the questions not because you already know where the answers will lead. Be patient, stay curious, and don't interpret difficulty as a sign that you don't belong. Difficulty is part of the discipline. To my younger self, I would say: trust your instincts. Your ideas are worth exploring, even before you feel completely confident in them.

 

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Further Links to interviews with Ekaterina Fokina

Her own website:
https://www.dmg.tuwien.ac.at/fokina/

Her publications on Scopus:
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=23396597200

An article by ORF which resulted out of an interview with Ekaterina Fokina:
https://sciencev2.orf.at/stories/1763707/index.html

An article by Kronen Zeitung "Wenn Computer an ihre Grenzen stoßen” about her research:
https://www.krone.at/503797