(My supervisors) encouraged me to take my own research direction, guided by my interests, and to be involved in the wider community, presenting at and attending a wide range of national and international conferences
Before joining SAMBa, I did a MMath at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. I did several research internships including in the Cambridge Image Analysis group and in a data science team at GSK in Stevenage.
My research was in generative machine models applied to inverse problems in imaging. An inverse problem is the process of calculating from observations the causal factors that produce them for example calculating an image from transmission data from a CT scan or reconstructing an image that has been taken in low light or blurred by motion. Generative modelling is the technology behind deep fakes and chatGPT, and generative models generate new data based on learning from lots of similar examples. I combined the two areas of deep learning and inverse problems, using generative models to provide more information to image reconstruction problems. I was supervised by Matthias Ehrhardt and Neill Campbell who were very supportive and encouraged me to take my own research direction, guided by my interests, and to be involved in the wider community, presenting at and attending a wide range of national and international conferences.
Outside of research, SAMBa gave me opportunities to be involved with a wide range of other opportunities. ITTs gave me the skills to understand and synthesise information quickly, translating complex real-world challenges into interesting mathematical problems. Importantly they gave us an opportunity to work with a wide range of people, from professors to industry experts, in collaborative teams on equal footing, a great atmosphere for learning and development. I was lucky to participate in two ITTs in collaboration with Mexican universities on vital topics such as earthquake detection. I was also able to develop teaching and leadership skills through tutoring, widening participation programmes, organising the SAMBa conference, as part of the SIAM-IMA student chapter and much more. I really valued the friendly and supportive atmosphere cultivated by SAMBa and the department. I think most importantly, SAMBa PhD students are really seen as valuable members of the Mathematics Department, and this benefits everyone!
When not at university or doing maths, I was a local Guide and Cub Scout leader as well as taking on other volunteer roles for Girlguiding UK. To relax, I could either be found running about the beautiful countryside of Bath or doing endless laps in the university swimming pool!
I am currently working as a Computational Scientist in Imaging at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, part of UK Research and Innovation. I am part of an imaging team who focus on tomography (think a CT scanner). We work in collaboration between the mathematics and tomography user communities, to provide the UK tomography community with a toolbox of algorithms that increases the quality and level of information that can be extracted by computed tomography. The idea is to bring people together to develop approaches to applied challenges and so I directly use the collaboration and problem-solving skills that I developed during SAMBa ITTs.
The SAMBa team understands how to efficiently bridge the gap between the abstract world of mathematics and statistics to industrial research
The ITTs were invaluable in providing experience in collaborating effectively with others on large projects, understanding and synthesising new information quickly, and liasing with academic leads and commercial partners
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
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
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
SAMBa offers high level training in statistical and applied mathematical disciplines, as well as direct engagement with industrial partners
I can't imagine studying for my PhD anywhere other than SAMBa
I enjoyed the big portfolio of opportunities I was given, which I believe is an essential property of SAMBa and something which truly makes the programme worth it
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