Biography
I am a Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, and a Tutorial Fellow in Mathematics at St Hugh’s College. I am a member of the Wolfson Centre for Mathematical Biology and the Machine Learning and Data Science Group, and am affiliated with the Institute for Developmental and Regenerative Medicine. I am also a Simons Investigator in Theoretical Physics in Life Sciences.
Interests
My research develops mathematical approaches for understanding how collective cell behaviour gives rise to tissue-scale dynamics and organisation. I use mechanistic models, ranging from stochastic and individual-based descriptions to continuum theories, to connect cell mechanics, interactions and environmental cues with processes such as cell migration, tissue morphogenesis and tumour invasion.
A central theme of my work is determining what can reliably be inferred about biological mechanisms from experimental data. This includes questions of parameter identifiability, model selection and experimental design. I am also interested in scientific machine learning, particularly in combining mechanistic models with data-driven methods to recover complex biological dynamics from experimental and imaging data. The aim is to develop interpretable and predictive mathematical frameworks that reveal biological mechanisms, quantify uncertainty and help guide experiments.
Teaching
At St Hugh’s, I teach applied mathematics to first- and second-year undergraduates.
