MAGIC079: Inverse Problems

Course details

A core MAGIC course

Semester

Spring 2026
Monday, January 26th to Friday, April 3rd

Hours

Live lecture hours
10
Recorded lecture hours
0
Total advised study hours
40

Timetable

Thursdays
11:05 - 11:55 (UK)

Description

This module provides a rigorous introduction to the mathematical theory of Inverse Problems. The lectures also include numerical experiments to develop first hand experience of the concepts covered by the theory.

The lectures are largely based on 3rd edition of the book An Introduction to the Mathematical Theory of Inverse Problems by Andreas Kirsch, Springer (2021). Most of the material is also covered in the previous editions of this book.

Prerequisites

This module assumes some knowledge of functional analysis and some minimal coding skills. Students can find a quick recap of functional analysis in Appendix A of the textbook.

Syllabus

  1. Introduction to forward and inverse problems
  2. General regularization strategies
  3. Tikhonov regularization
  4. Morozov's discrepancy principle
  5. Landweber iteration
  6. (Optional) Regularization by discretization
  7. (Optional) Extension to nonlinear inverse problems
  8. (Optional) Optimization algorithms for PDE-constrained optimization

Lecturer

  • AP

    Dr Alberto Paganini

    University
    University of Leicester

Bibliography

No bibliography has been specified for this course.

Assessment

The assessment for this course will be released on Monday 27th April 2026 at 00:00 and is due in before Friday 8th May 2026 at 11:00.

Assessment for all MAGIC courses is via take-home exam which will be made available at the release date (the start of the exam period).

You will need to upload a PDF file with your own attempted solutions by the due date (the end of the exam period).

If you have kept up-to-date with the course, the expectation is it should take at most 3 hours’ work to attain the pass mark, which is 50%.

Please note that you are not registered for assessment on this course.

Files

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Lectures

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