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!).
I was a MMath student at the University of Bath before becoming a SAMBa-aligned student. My project was funded by SAMBa’s industrial partner, Jacobs. This project involved using stochastic models to analyse the long-term behaviour of systems of neutrons in nuclear Reactors.
During these three years I spent several weeks at their offices in Dorchester understanding their software and explaining our work, as well as attending and presenting at their annual conference.
I also participated in several other SAMBa activities such as ITTs, presenting at the annual summer conference, being a student organiser for an LMS Research School, teaching in Mongolia and communicating maths to non-mathematicians.
SAMBa helped me by being able to demonstrate a knowledge of different areas of maths (probability, statistics, programming) and knowing how to bring them together to apply them to real-world problems was one of the main reasons I obtained my current position.
Although the application is different, the idea of bringing together different areas of maths to work with both academics and industry is a key part to the project. This, as well as attending ITTs to work with other departments, universities and industrial partners also was something that gave me an advantage during interviews and applications, since this is very important in Inria and not something every other mathematician has had the opportunity to do.
SAMBa exposes students to a wide range of cutting edge statistical and mathematical research that will be useful to them in their PhD and later career
I found the one-on-one reading courses an incredible opportunity to both learn about a topic in detail, and to get to know a potential area and supervisor before starting my PhD
The SAMBa team understands how to efficiently bridge the gap between the abstract world of mathematics and statistics to industrial research
I was able to use the SAMBa training in statistics, to support training workshops in Mexico and in fact took a break from my PhD to take on a statistics teaching assistant role.
Shortly after joining SAMBa I broke my neck in a bicycle accident. But thanks to the support from the amazing team, I was still able to make a success of my PhD. The SAMBa environment surrounds you with wonderful people and fantastic opportunities.
My experience in SAMBa shaped me as a versatile researcher with the ability to use maths to make an impact.
Being a part of SAMBa was a great way to broaden my research interests and to apply this knowledge to cross-displinary problems
You get a lot of freedom to choose your research area...and there is a wide range of research areas within the department from which to choose
I joined thinking I wanted to do one type of PhD but ended up doing a completely different one due to the flexibility that was provided in finding/forming a PhD during the masters year
SAMBa’s most remarkable feature is the variety of study options it offers