Profile

I’m Sam. I’m 25 now and have been loving my life more and more since leaving school! I live with my girlfriend in Southampton but am originally from Essex (ha-ha), I’ve also lived in Birmingham, London and Germany.

I love hot curries, watching films (I’ve seen over 1000), reading, playing chess, football, gaming and music. My job as a researcher allows me to travel to lots of places which is great.

At school I was a bit of a trouble maker, I didn’t follow the rules. A teacher once told me that I wouldn’t succeed as I relied too heavily on my natural ability. She wasn’t completely wrong: I have failed a handful of exams which gave me the kick that I needed. My school P.E. teachers (who are now managing Huddersfield football club!) used to say “you only get out of life, what you put in” and this is so true. It’s great to have ambition but if you want to achieve your dreams, you have to be prepared to work hard!

A photograph of galaxies taken with the Hubble Telescope.

Are the galaxies randomly distributed in the Universe or is there some underlying pattern? If we look closely at their pattern we can start to understand the physics that governs the Universe. Cosmology is a sub-field of Physics and is the study of the Universe as a whole. Examples of questions that arise in cosmology and in my work are “How did the Universe begin?”, “How does gravity work on super-large scales?”, “What kind of factors affect space, time and light?”.

Aside from my main work in Cosmology, I am also interested in Artificial Intelligence. This is a growing field in computer science that uses software to analyse and interpret data. At the lowest end of the spectrum it can be something as simple as your email spam folder or Spotify music suggestions. AI in its most complex form is robots overtaking the world! I am about to start a research project looking at photographs of skin moles and using AI to detect which moles may turn cancerous.

Where the magic happens!

My typical day involves me arriving at the office around 9am. I then work independently on my own research using mathematics and computer programming. During the day, I will listen to talks by colleagues and other international scientists. Once a week, I have a meeting with my supervisor (academic boss) who will help, instruct and assist me in my research. I will then leave the office around 5pm. In the evenings I like to visit the gym or play chess, or just relax with a nice meal and TV. I often work from home which is fun and the good thing about doing a PhD is that your boss doesn’t monitor your every move!