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