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Simon White

I am a Postgraduate Researcher (PhD) in Statistics at the University of Nottingham's School of Mathematical Sciences (UK). My supervisor is Professor Philip O'Neill

Academic Homepage

Contact Details

Email Address	Email (Work): pmxsw [at] nottingham.ac.uk Email (Personal): simon.white [at] 3-14.co.uk
Office	C3a Pope Building
Address	School of Mathematical Sciences University of Nottingham University Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
Telephone (Personal):	+44 (0) 115 84 66980
Telephone (School):	+44 (0) 115 951 4949

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Research Details

Areas of Interest

Currently my research is focused on Epidemics conditioned on their final outcome. It is focus in Bayesian Inference using primarily Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods.

Analysing epidemics that have occurred is difficult with limited information about the disease and other factors of the situation. We approach the problem by considering final size data, generally commonly reported, as well as extending to include information on social groupings and interactions.

Using this limited information, and making restrictive assumptions about the mechanism of infectivity and spread of the disease, we make inference about the parameters of the model. There are several limitations to this method, not least its reliance on specified model assumptions and simplifications. Also, the technique used does not allow for any temporal information to be incorporated - a significant area of current research.

Reports and Papers

• Internal Research Report (Second Year Report)

Conferences and Workshops

• Young Statisticians Meeting, April 2009 (Glasgow University): Will present a talk and poster.
• Mathematics in the Plant Sciences Study Group (MPSSG II), January 2009 (University of Nottingham, organised jointly by CPIB and GARNet): Contributed to
  • "Applying systems approaches to biofuel research: Prediction of function of plant polysaccharide synthesis enzymes" presented by Paul Dupree and Marcelo Segura of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge,
  • "Modelling landrace structure in underutilised crops - bambara groundnut as an example" presented by Dr Sean Mayes, Ms. Asha Karunaratne, Dr Festo Massawe, Prof Sayed Azam-Ali and Prof Neil Crout of the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham,
• Royal Statistical Society Conference, September 2008 (University of Nottingham): Chaired the session of invited speakers from the RSC 2008.
• Research Student's Conference in Probability and Statistics, March 2008 (University of Nottingham): Head Organiser, giving the openning and closing address.
• Mathematics in the Plant Sciences Study Group (MPSSG I), December 2007 (University of Nottingham, organised jointly by CPIB and GARNet): Contributed to the problem of "Measuring genetic diversity?" presented by Pete Iannetta of the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI). (see http://cpib.info/reports.shtml, report)
• Research Student's Conference in Probability and Statistics, March 2007 (Durham University): Presented a talk.
• Workshop: Inference for partially observed diffusion processes, January 2007 (University of Warwick)
• Research Student's Conference in Probability and Statistics, March 2006 (Glasgow University)

Committees and Positions

Researchers Student Conference in Statistics 2008

I was the head organiser for RSC 2008, held in Nottingham on 31st March to 3rd April. This is the UK's largest Student Researcher Conference in Probability and Statistics.

(School of Mathematical Sciences) Research Committee

I was the Postgrad Researcher's representative on the School Research Committee (2006/7 and 2007/8), dealing with matters relating to research within the school.

University of Nottingham Roleplay and Wargames Society Committee

On the organising committee from 2005 to 2008, running one of the three parts of the society, the board and wargames section. Involved arranging rooms, organising internal events and forming teams to attend external competitions.

Graduate School

I am a tutor for the University of Nottingham Graduate School, teaching the Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods, an introductory course to statistics as a whole. It is a two day course covering a wide range of topics.

I also demonstrate for LaTeX for Researchers, a course to help people learn LaTeX.

Qualifications

• Education
  • 2005-2009: University of Nottingham - PhD Mathematics (pending submission)
  • 2001-2005: University of Nottingham - First Class Masters in Mathematics (MMath)
  • 1999-2001: Trinity School - Four and a half A-levels at grade A (Mathematics, Further Mathematics, AS Additional Further Mathematics, Physics and Electronics)
  • 1993-1999: Trinity School - Ten GCSEs (three A*, four A and three B grades)
• Other
  • Full UK Driving License

Skills

Personal Interests

I organise a weekly football game for the department, very friendly, indoors, as player and referee it's surprising how often my team wins.

I spend my free time playing board games and roleplaying games, for the past three years (2006-2008) I ran the Wargames section of the Univeristy of Nottingham Roleplaying Games Society (UoN RPGSoc). During that time I organised many internal events and put teams together to play in external competitions for wargaming; as well as running and playing in many rpg games.

I enjoy watching a variety of films, from David Cronenberg's 'Videodrome' to Ingmar Bergman's 'Seventh Seal' via Steven Spielberg's 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. The animated films by Studio Ghibli are also among my favourites.

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Links

• University of Nottingham
  • School of Mathematical Sciences
  • Postgrad Directory