I moved from Christies to their parent company, the Nexus Brands Group in April 2023 in order to build and enhance the data function across the entire European division of Nexus. Nexus own a number of professional brands across the tattoo, beauty and pet grooming industries, including Barber DTS, Nouveau HD Beauty, and Christies Direct. As the European Data Scientist, I’m responsible for building a data warehouse and then delivering reporting and data science insight across all European brands, with the same goals to deliver data science insight by leveraging all streams of data, and foster stakeholder engagement. This is a continuation of my work at Christies, now working across a wider range of industries and with data from a diverse range of sources to deliver a consistent report structure accounting for the requirements of each distinct businesses.
Christies Direct are one of the largest pet-grooming supply companies in the world. I joined Christies in 2022 to build a Data Science function within the company. This meant building a foundation of a strong data culture, with long term goals of delivering data science insight by leveraging all streams of data. This involved working with stakeholders across all levels and roles within the company, to empower them with the insight to take data driven decisions. I also began working with data from our sister company, Transgroom during my time at Christies. I created a reporting structure which brought together all the distinct data sets in each company together into a cohesive reporting format, allowing for direct comparison between businesses. My work in building this reporting function led to an internal promotion to the role of European Data Scientist, working for Christies' parent company, the Nexus Brands Group.
During a four month contract I developed and refined bespoke image feature recognition software for Randox Laboratories. This involved developing code to address the challenges of new biochip designs, and working with biomedical colleagues to ensure their design specifications were met. As in my PhD, I created technical documents and delivered presentations to describe the operation of the complicated feature recognition software in non-technical terms. The coding was primarily focused on IDL.
My PhD project title was "Observations and Modelling of Intensity Time series for Biomedical and Astrophysical Applications”. A redacted copy of my thesis is available at that link. This PhD was a joint venture between Queen's University Belfast, and Randox Laboratories to develop cutting-edge statistical techniques with application in astrophysical and biomedical analysis. During the PhD I developed very strong data analysis skills, primarily through the development of algorithms for the large-scale statistical analysis and modelling of extremely challenging below-noise-floor signals, which were applied to astrophysical and to industrial biomedical datasets. My development and application of statistical techniques led me to novel discoveries of stellar nanoflares, which hold the potential to answer key questions about the nature of flaring in stars. Applying those same techniques to biomedical data allowed for the development of cutting-edge noise suppression and dynamic range software. As part of this pipeline, I created bespoke image feature recognition software. This recognition software identifies key features within an image in around a second, and has led to a 98.8% reduction in downstream processing times (a saving of over 600 seconds), forming a key component of the data analysis pipeline providing competitive advantage to Randox in the field of biochip diagnostics (an industry valued at $12 billion). These results highlight the direct applications of my astrophysical data analysis skills to industrial needs. Written and spoken communication skills were extensively developed, through academic publications, annotated code pipelines, and industrial technical documents, as well as presenting at numerous conferences, workshops and catchup meetings with industry partners. The synthesis of industry and academic experience has allowed me to develop excellent communication skills, and the opportunity to collaborate with biomedical colleagues from a range of different skill-sets and job-roles. I developed extensive coding experience, primarily working in IDL, as well as Python. I also worked as a Level 1 and 2 Lab demonstrator. I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to teach and work with large groups of students (40+), and I consistently achieved excellent feedback in student evaluation forms.
Role required leading an investigation into a manufacturing defect. Required strong interpersonal skills, in order to interact with team members and deliver the changes required. Emphasis on presenting findings to management, requiring confidence and strong presentation skills. Developed my personal responsibility, as I undertook self directed tasks to solve this manufacturing problem. Gained experience with R, as well as Six-sigma manufacturing philosophy.
Previous examinations of fully-convective M-dwarf stars have highlighted enhanced rates of nanoflare activity on these distant stellar sources. However, the specific role the convective boundary, which is believed to be present for spectral types earlier than M2.5V, plays on the observed nanoflare rates is not yet known. Here, we utilize a combination of statistical and Fourier techniques to examine M-dwarf stellar lightcurves that lie on ei- ther side of the convective boundary. We find that fully convective M2.5V (and later sub-types) stars have greatly enhanced nanoflare rates compared with their pre-dynamo mode transition counterparts. Specifically, we derive a flaring power-law index in the region of 3.00 ± 0.20, alongside a decay timescale of 200 ± 100 s for M2.5V and M3V stars, matching those seen in prior observations of similar stellar sub-types. Interestingly, M4V stars exhibit longer decay timescales of 450 ± 50 s, along with an increased power-law index of 3.10 ± 0.18, sug- gesting an interplay between the rate of nanoflare occurrence and the intrinsic plasma parameters, for example, the underlying Lundquist number. In contrast, partially convective (i.e., earlier sub-types from M0V to M2V) M-dwarf stars exhibit very weak nanoflare activity, which is not easily identifiable using statistical or Fourier techniques. This suggests that fully convective stellar atmospheres favor small-scale magnetic reconnection, leading to implications for the flare-energy budgets of these stars. Understanding why small-scale reconnection is enhanced in fully convective atmospheres may help solve questions relating to the dynamo behavior of these stellar sources.
Several studies have documented periodic and quasi-periodic signals from the time series of dMe flare stars and other stellar sources. Such periodic signals, observed within quiescent phases (i.e., devoid of larger-scale microflare or flare activity), range in period from 1 − 1000 seconds and hence have been tentatively linked to ubiquitous p-mode oscillations generated in the convective layers of the star. As such, most interpretations for the observed periodicities have been framed in terms of magneto-hydrodynamic wave behavior. However, we propose that a series of continuous nanoflares, based upon a power-law distribution, can provide a similar periodic signal in the associated time series. Adapting previous statistical analyses of solar nanoflare signals, we find the first statistical evidence for stellar nanoflare signals embedded within the noise envelope of M- type stellar lightcurves. Employing data collected by the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), we find evidence for stellar nanoflare activity demonstrating a flaring power-law index of 3.25 ± 0.20, alongside a decay timescale of 200 ± 100 s. We also find that synthetic time series, consistent with the observations of dMe flare star lightcurves, are capable of producing quasi-periodic signals in the same frequency range as p-mode signals, despite being purely comprised of impulsive signatures. Phenomena traditionally considered a consequence of wave behaviour may be described by a number of high frequency but discrete nanoflare energy events. This new physical interpretation presents a novel diagnostic capability, by linking observed periodic signals to given nanoflare model conditions.
Small-scale magnetic reconnection processes, in the form of nanoflares, have become increasingly hypothesized as important mechanisms for the heating of the solar atmosphere, for driving propagating disturbances along magnetic field lines in the Sun’s corona, and for instigating rapid jet-like bursts in the chromosphere. Unfortunately, the relatively weak signatures associated with nanoflares places them below the sensitivities of current observational instrumentation. Here, we employ Monte Carlo techniques to synthesize realistic nanoflare intensity time series from a dense grid of power-law indices and decay timescales. Employing statistical techniques, which examine the modeled intensity fluctuations with more than 107 discrete measurements, we show how it is possible to extract and quantify nanoflare characteristics throughout the solar atmosphere, even in the presence of significant photon noise. A comparison between the statistical parameters (derived through examination of the associated intensity fluctuation histograms) extracted from the Monte Carlo simulations and SDO/AIA 171 Å and 94 Å observations of active region NOAA 11366 reveals evidence for a flaring power-law index within the range of 1.82 ≤ α ≤ 1.90, combined with e-folding timescales of 385 ± 26 s and 262 ± 17 s for the SDO/AIA 171 Å and 94 Å channels, respectively. These results suggest that nanoflare activity is not the dominant heating source for the active region under investigation. This opens the door for future dedicated observational campaigns to not only unequivocally search for the presence of small-scale reconnection in solar and stellar environments, but also quantify key characteristics related to such nanoflare activity.
I attained a First class Honor in my degree. Studying physics has taught me
how to work methodically, toward any goal, whether it be writing a lab report or studying
for an exam. This methodical problem solving ability combined with rigorous discipline allowed me to excel
in this degree, and those same skills transfer to other areas. Naturally, there was a strong development of
my numeracy and IT skills.
There was also a significant emphasis on ‘soft skills’ of presentation and collaboration, teaching me to
how work cohesively within a team, under management and how to direct teams.
I was chosen out of 100 students based on my academic merit and interview performance to be the Seagate bursary and internship recipient.
In recognition of my leadership and communication skills I was awarded the role of
head of the peer mentor scheme within the school of Physics, where my responsibilities included
facilitating the mentoring of 100 students by 14 mentors, organizing events for this group,
and generally ensuring the smooth running of the scheme
GCSE - 5A*’s and 6A’s, including A* in English Language and Maths
A Level -
Chemistry -A English Literature -A Maths -A Physics -A
I was awarded the John McDaid Memorial Prize
in 2013, which is awarded each year to a student who has made an
Outstanding Contribution to College Life
.