Postgraduate Prospectus

Mathematical Sciences | www.essex.ac.uk/maths
Staff and their research interests
Dan Brawn, BSc Nottingham, PhD
Witwatersrand, PhD Essex (Lecturer)
Mathematical and statistical models
(recently, for raindrop size distributions
in atmospheric science but formerly for
small earthquakes)
Edward Codling, BSc PhD Leeds
(Lecturer) (Joint appointment with the
Department of Biological Sciences)
Modelling the movement and dispersal of
animals, micro-organisms and cells using
random walk theory; mathematical
analysis and simulation using stochastic
models that provide insights into the
population dynamics and optimal
management of fisheries and marine
eco-systems
John Ford, BSc London, DPhil Sussex
(Senior Lecturer)
Mathematical programming (especially
unconstrained optimization); numerical
analysis; constraint satisfaction; chaos
in numerical computation.
Andrew Harrison, BSc Manchester,
PhD Edinburgh (Senior Lecturer) (Joint
appointment with the Department of
Biological Sciences)
Bioinformatics
Peter Higgins, BA ANU, BSc Tasmania,
PhD Monash (Professor)
Algebra and combinatorics, in particular
algebraic semigroups, automata and
formal language theory
Berthold Lausen, Dipl-Stat Dr rer nat
Dortmund, PD Erlangen-Nuremberg
(Senior Lecturer)
Biostatistics; classification; clinical
research; data analysis; epidemiology;
public health and systems biology
David Penman, MA Cert Cambridge,
MSc PhD Sheffield (Senior Lecturer)
Various aspects of the interaction between
probability and combinatorics, including
random graphs, pseudo-random graphs,
such as Paley graphs, and extremal
Ramsey graphs
Abdellah Salhi, BSc MSc Constantine,
PhD Aston (Senior Lecturer and Head of
Department)
Optimisation including evolutionary
approaches applied to data mining;
combinatorics; algorithm design and
parallel implementation; numerical analysis
Chris Saker, BSc PhD Essex (Lecturer
and Area Coordinator for the Further
Mathematics Support Programme)
Combinatorics on words, particularly on
the study of unavoidable factor sets and
related topics
Graham Upton, BSc Leicester, MSc PhD
Birmingham (Professor)
Analysis of data arising in bioinformatics
and remote sensing; statistics of species
abundance, spatial and directional data
Gerald Williams, MSci St Andrews, MSc
Warwick, PhD Heriot Watt (Lecturer)
Combinatorial, computational, geometric,
cohomological and number theoretic
aspects of infinite group theory
Alexei Vernitski, BSc MSc Ural State,
PhD Essex (Lecturer) (Joint appointment
with the School of Computer Science and
Electronic Engineering)
Discrete mathematics and algebra
(including semigroups, groups, graphs and
partially ordered sets); computability and
algorithmic complexity; applications to
computer science and biology
Qingfu Zhang, BSc Shanxi, MSc PhD
Xidian (Professor) (Joint appointment with
the School of Computer Science and
Electronic Engineering)
Neural networks; evolutionary
computation; mathematical programming;
telecommunication networks
of statistics (eg significance testing or basic
statistical distributions) and operational
research (eg linear programming). You
specialise in various aspects of optimisation
(both continuous and discrete) and in
the advanced study in statistics (including
experimental design and linear models). We
offer optional modules in machine learning,
heuristic computation and time series
econometrics.
MSc Statistics and Operational Research
will equip you with employability skills like
problem solving, analytical reasoning, data
analysis, and mathematical modelling, as
well as training you in independent work,
presentation and writing skills. Your
exposure to current active research areas
prepares you for further study at doctoral
level. Graduates of this course now hold
key positions in government, business
and academia.
Graduate Diploma in Mathematics•
Our Graduate Diploma in Mathematics
gives you training in basic mathematics
techniques if your first degree contained
only a modest amount of mathematics.
Research study
Our PhD students study in an environment
of active research. Recently, Dr Alexei
Vernitski, working with colleagues from
our Department of Sociology and School
of Computer Science and Electronic
Engineering, was awarded over £30,000
from BT to explore the value of novel
mathematical network analysis methods
in deriving emergent clusters of ‘social
similarity’.
We host weekly seminars during term-time,
with external speakers. Our current PhD
students can also present their findings at
in-house seminars or present papers at
conferences further afield.
168 | Postgraduate Prospectus 2012