Research Supervision

My current graduate students are David Wilding (who gained his MSc under my supervision in 2011, since when he has been working towards his PhD in algebra), and Matthew Taylor (who started his PhD in 2012). I am also supervising two postdocs, James Hook and Meisam Sharify, jointly with Francoise Tisseur.

My former PhD student Elaine Render wrote her thesis on algebraic automata theory and went on to a postdoc at UCLA; she now works as a software developer in Bath. Other former students include Peter Walker (MSc 2008) who wrote a dissertation on Synchronising Automata and a Conjecture of Cerny, Katharine Barr (MSc 2009) who is currently a PhD student in Leeds, James Redhead (MSc 2010) and Maria Mir (MSc 2012). My former postdocs include Chris Hollings (currently in Oxford), Marianne Johnson (now a permanent lecturer in Manchester) and Markus Pfeiffer (now a postdoc in St Andrews).

If you are interested in working with me as a research student or postdoc, please feel free to get in touch (but please bear in mind that a well-above-borderline first class degree is normally a minimum prerequisite for a funded PhD place in Manchester, and a masters-level qualification is a big advantage). It would be helpful if you could describe your experience and the area you would like to work in. The School of Mathematics also runs a one-year taught-plus-dissertation MSc programme in Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Logic, which you might consider taking possibly as a precursor to doctoral study. If you would like to work in one of my research areas, I would be happy to consider supervising your final dissertation. For full details of the School's postgraduate programmes, look here.