Thomas Byrne
Ishaan Jolly has written the following article as part of our series of Academic Interviews; featuring Thomas Byrne!
Dr Thomas Byrne first joined the University of Edinburgh in 2015 to pursue an MSc in Statistics and Operational Research at the School of Mathematics before completing a PhD in Optimisation and Operational Research. On the day he submitted his doctoral thesis he began his position as University Teacher in Operational Research. In this interview, written as part of the academic interview series, Tom speaks about the very start of his voyage into maths to his current research on location problems, sharing small slices of his life in between.
Early life
What was your school studying experience like? And how did you become interested in Maths?
I was fortunate that my parents and grandparents really nurtured my learning. My maternal grandparents were both university mathematicians (my grandfather being a professor of algebra and my grandmother a mathematics educationalist) so they were very interested in my mathematical development. My grandmother helped to design a maths computer game for kids called RM Maths and she'd often test it out on her grandchildren and see how we were doing. As well as being fun on a rainy afternoon, I could see my cousins’ progress on the game which very much fuelled my competitive side.
Similarly, my Dad would often talk to me about scientific topics long before they were taught in class. This naturally gave me a headstart at school and I remember the excitement when my teachers entered me for a KS2 SATs exam (typically for Year 6 students) in Year 3; I was eight and suddenly surrounded by all of these 11-year-olds whom I literally looked up to. My teachers also enlisted my help in assisting my friends with their class work. From then on I realised that school was a lot more fun if I was ahead of the material - and also that if you got good grades then you got away with many more pranks! Some great school teachers nurtured my interests and entered me for academic competitions too. I thrive in competitive scenarios so this really furthered my interest in maths.
Why did you take up maths specifically at Cambridge?
When picking my A-levels, I struggled to choose subjects to drop because I enjoyed them all. I pursued the arts in extra-curricular activities, felt that I could satisfy my interests in history and geography with books, and (foolishly) thought that languages could be picked up by having non-native friends so finally decided on maths and science. I also negotiated with my school to allow me to teach myself the maths course so that I would have a free timetabling slot to do an extra A-level - I was getting more bang for my buck taking maths! When considering what subject to study at university, I was still in a quandary: I wanted to do everything from architecture to zoology! In the end I chose maths; I saw maths as the ultimate source of all knowledge from which I could then switch to physics or engineering or chiropody if I so wished. I wanted to learn as much as I could and was set on Oxbridge. I had always imagined returning to Oxford, my birthplace. It was a bigger city, seemed more artsy, and importantly I prefer dark blue, but I was eventually persuaded that Cambridge offered the more diverse and challenging maths course.
University life
How did studying maths at Cambridge lead you to do an MSc in Statistics and Operational Research at Edinburgh?
Since my A-levels, I really enjoyed pure maths as well as decision maths (which back then I saw only as fun and games). However, in my second year at Cambridge, I was advised to visit Dr Susan Pitt’s Statistics lecture simply to enjoy her presence - she was reportedly the sweetest lecturer in existence. At school I despised statistics because it required turning off your brain and using a formula sheet. Despite this, I went to the lecture: and I loved the material! I remember thinking “Hang on, that’s statistics? But it’s so much fun.” Seeing what we can learn and predict about unknown things was so exciting.
I was also introduced to optimisation which suited me perfectly; as a self-confessed perfectionist, I naturally try to optimise all areas of my life: from my shopping route to post-shower towelling. I also realised that all the decision maths I enjoyed at school represented a rigorous part of mathematics. Therefore I pursued a Master’s in these cool, challenging, and compelling fields. My lecturers at Cambridge recommended Edinburgh, Lancaster, and Southampton as the best locations in the UK for such Master’s courses. The choice was fairly easy: Edinburgh was the most beautiful city with a much larger arts scene and so I found myself in Auld Reekie!
Why did you want to do a PhD after your Master’s?
During my Master’s, I realised that there was still so much that I wanted to learn, and my thirst for such knowledge was not sated so I considered a PhD (besides, I had always thought Dr Byrne had a good villainous ring to it). Thus (struggling to choose a specific topic to focus upon, as per usual), I applied for both a Statistics PhD and an OR PhD at Edinburgh and also to the Statistics and OR Institute (STOR-i) CDT at Lancaster. My ultimate decision was clinched when Dr Jörg Kalcsics approached me himself, proposing a PhD topic he described as challenging and exciting, which really intrigued me. Therefore, with less associated risk, OR seemed to be the logical choice, statistically speaking.
How was your PhD experience different from your Master’s experience?
In a taught Master’s, you are given a macro schedule and you have to sort out your own micro schedule. In a PhD, there is no macro scheduling provided; it's all up to you! You are given so much freedom. This can be a blessing because you can work in the style that best suits you but those who can lack motivation, or require deadlines for motivation, may struggle with this initially. Another difference is that a lot of work (for me at least) consists of simply sitting down and thinking hard, so it can be the case that you work for a whole day with nothing physical to show for it.
I'll add that there are many perks to doing a PhD which were never shared with me when I was a Master’s student. For example, conferences are so much fun! I enjoyed going to these exotic locations to listen to cutting-edge research that people have only just put down on paper. You're among the first to hear these new ideas and share your work with others, whilst also getting a lovely break with a lot of free food - what’s not to love!
What's the one piece of advice you would give to current PhD students?
Once you have a publishable result, try to publish it as soon as you can because it's not a quick process and it's not always an easy process.
University Teaching and beyond
Over the past year you’ve lectured for quite a few subjects. Do you have fond memories associated with them?
Fundamentals of Operational Research was the first full-semester course I co-organised, so it holds a special importance for me. It was interesting to see the running of courses from the other side and to learn about the administrative details associated with university teaching. I particularly liked lecturing the game theory section of this course and adding my personal touch, making it a bit silly at times with my jokes and amusing examples. My favourite course was probably Topics in Applied OR where I was given complete freedom to teach almost whatever I wanted. Through this, I was able to teach maths at the cutting edge of research (including results I had published during the span of the lectures) and create a course that I, as a student, would have been really excited to take.
Can you tell me about OR Base?
Put off by some unfortunate undergraduate experiences, I sadly realised only too late during my own Master’s that mathematics students can actually be really fun! From then on, I made the most of the social opportunities that my PhD allowed and vowed to promote social interaction among the MSc students at Edinburgh. Alongside Dr Julian Hall, I set up OR Base, a drop-in lunchtime hour dedicated to allowing students to ask questions on anything: courses and course materials, assignments, lecturers, life in and outside Edinburgh, applications, gossip, the meaning of life, etc. This year I particularly enjoyed facilitating the mixing of students calling in online from all over the world, most of whom were isolated, locked-down, and alone, some thousands of miles away. I was honoured to be able to assist in the creation and development of this online community (whose regular company also benefited me since I was living alone during the lockdown). I hope it provided some solace to its attendees and I really appreciated the unwavering support of my congregation.
Can you speak about your research interests in layman’s terms?
My research focuses on prescriptive analytics for the optimal location of service facilities. A service facility is any object with a location to which customers travel to obtain a service (e.g. patients visiting a hospital, or customers going to a supermarket to purchase food, or electric car owners driving to a charge point) or from which the facility’s agents travel to deliver a service (e.g. a fire engine attending a house fire, or wireless broadband travelling throughout a home from the router). There is clearly a plethora of facility location problems which require solving, dealing with facilities relating to public services and corporate/supply chain problems (approximately 80% of all supply chain costs are determined by facility locations), and ranging widely from installing 5G radio masts across continents to arranging electronic components across circuit boards. In recent years, these problems have gained importance through clustering problems in artificial intelligence and even more so given the urgent demand for disease management in the response to COVID-19, so their solution is increasingly crucial. Indeed, the optimal placement of a fire station could save a forest from destruction, that of a hospital could save numerous lives, and that of a supermarket could save thousands of minutes in customers’ travel times.
What’s next for you Tom?
I’m cooking Persian slow roast lamb.