Being part of SAMBa is like being part of a little community: everyone is super supportive and there is always someone to talk to if you need it (usually with cake!).

After completing my MMath at the University of Bath, I joined SAMBa as a SAMBa-aligned student to work on a project funded by one of SAMBa’s industrial partners, ANSWERS. The project involved developing stochastic models to analyse the long-term behaviour of systems of neutrons in nuclear reactors.

During these three years I spent several weeks at the ANSWERS team’s offices in Dorchester understanding their software and explaining my work, as well as attending and presenting at their annual conference. I was also exposed to many other opportunities, including participating in ITTs (including one in Mexico!), presenting at the annual summer conference and teaching a statistics course in Mongolia.

My PhD taught me how to bring together research from different disciplines to tackle real-world problems, which has been instrumental in shaping my research and the path my career has taken. The additional opportunities offered as part of SAMBa were also invaluable and something not many PhD students get exposed to. For example, working with academics from other departments and industrial partners has given me the confidence and fluency to speak with non-mathematicians and develop new connections and collaborations.

Being part of SAMBa is like being part of a little community: everyone is super supportive and there is always someone to talk to if you need it (usually with cake!).