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.
Before I joined SAMBa, I was at the University of Edinburgh drinking whisky and climbing mountains, somehow ending up with an MMath degree along the way.
My research involved how things spread through networks. This could be anything from viruses in populations to messages on Twitter, though in a more abstract probabilistic way naturally. I’m now a postdoc at the University of Warwick. I got hired to model chicken pox vaccination, but then coronavirus hit so attention rather got turned in that direction instead.
SAMBa not only gave me the mathematical tools to pursue an area of really vital and interesting research, but enabled me to link up with biologists and epidemiologists so I could understand how my research is applied in real systems.
Dr Sam Moore, Lecturer, Lancaster
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
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.
Being a part of SAMBa was a great way to broaden my research interests and to apply this knowledge to cross-displinary problems
I can't imagine studying for my PhD anywhere other than SAMBa
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
(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
The ITTs can be really fun. The best part is that each time you participate you come out with a head full of new ideas and knowledge. Truly amazing
I had the opportunity to get involved in some international training and capacity building activities with international partners and was able to travel to Brazil and Mongolia to share my knowledge of statistical methods and applications, which was really rewarding.
I really valued the experience of being part of a cohort of students in SAMBa, which guaranteed that we were not doing our PhDs in isolation, despite working intensively on independent projects
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
