Personal statement

Over the course of my studies and work, I have gained plentiful experience in data visualisation and data handling. I have excelled at understanding the objectives of a business and how these are best served by effective modelling and data engineering practices. In addition to possessing a high level of numerical and computational literacy, I am highly competent in the drafting of technical documents and in articulating concepts tailored to specific types of audience.

Employment and responsibilities

  • Data Scientist

    iwoca, London

    Feb 2022 - Sept 2024
    London, UK

    Working in the auto model subdivision of the wider League of Lending, this role involved maintaining and developing models used by the business to assess credit risk and forecast losses. I also oversaw several reports and ETLs used throughout the business.

  • Research Associate

    School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University

    May 2021 - Sept 2021
    Newcastle, UK

    Following the submission of my doctoral thesis, I joined a research team, providing innovative contributions to a research project on the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. I conducted systematic, large-scale simulations and data processing using the programming software Matlab.

  • Workshop Demonstrator - Advanced Theoretical Physics

    Department of Physics, Durham University

    Oct 2019 - May 2021
    Durham, UK

    During my PhD, I undertook additional demonstration work for a master's level physics module. My role was to answer students' questions on the course material and to encourage further discussions.

  • Maths Tutor - University-wide Maths and Statistics Drop-in Sessions

    Durham University

    Sept 2019 - Feb 2022
    Durham, UK

    In addition to the tuition work in the physics department, I worked as a mathematics tutor for the university, being available during scheduled hours to assist students with problems encountered in their studies.

Education

  • PhD: On the formation and dynamics of bright matter-wave solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates

    Durham University

    Sept 2017 - Jul 2021
    Durham, UK

  • Theoretical Physics (MPhys) - First Class Honours

    Durham University

    Sept 2013 - June 2017
    Durham, UK

  • A-levels - A*A*A*A

    Runshaw College

    Sept 2011 - June 2013
    Leyland, UK

Languages

  • English
  • French
  • Italian
  • Serbo-Croatian

Hobbies

  • Football
  • Judo
  • Running
  • Hiking
  • Cycling
  • Guitar

Awards

  • Ralph Hope Prize for Physics, Runshaw College
  • Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award

Skills

  • Extensive knowledge and familiarity of Python programming.
  • Knowledge of Python modules for machine learning including Pandas, Scikit Learn and Tensorflow.
  • Comfortable using Jupyter notebooks.
  • Experience using SQL (Trino) queries.
  • Familiarity of harnessing domain knowledge for feature engineering.
  • Experience of creating and maintaining ETL pipelines.
  • Understanding of modelling using neural networks.
  • Strong ability to communicate through technical documents and through presentations to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Knowledge of using Docker and cloud services.
  • Familiarity using Unix, Latex and Git.
  • Experience in the use of high performance computers.

Key projects

  • Designed a tool which uses random forests to search unprocessed data for fields with the most potential to increase the performance when added to a logistic regression model.
  • Used the above-mentioned random forest tool on test data provided by various credit bureaus in order to ascribe an associated overall performance increase, thus informing the business decision on whether to purchase new information feeds.
  • Created an ETL which provided an improved target for the business' automated credit risk models.
  • Carried out the migration of the business' automated credit risk models to a new platform which uses data version control software to track data changes alongside code changes.

Publications

  • C.L. Grimshaw, S. A. Gardiner & B. A. Malomed, Splitting of two-component solitary waves from collisions with narrow potential barriers , Physical Review A 101(4): 043623 (2020) (arXiv, journal)
  • C. L. Grimshaw, S. A. Gardiner & T. P. Billam, Soliton interferometry with very narrow barriers obtained from spatially dependent dressed states , Physical Review Letters 129, 040401 (2022) (arXiv, journal)