I am a PhD student in philosophy at the London School of Economics, working with Roman Frigg and Richard Bradley.

I work on decision-making about science, and on scientific modelling, in conditions of severe uncertainty. My recent work has focused on climate science, and in particular on the prediction of hurricanes striking North America.

Broadly speaking, I am interested in the proper relation between science and society. This involves an understanding and exploration of scientific methods (in particular the use of computer simulation models), and an exploration of the boundaries where science interacts with society: science education, communication and policy making. I am interested in exploring the proper structure of scientific institutions, and normative guidelines for non-experts engaging with science.

Before beginning my PhD I worked as a management consultant for Bain & Co., and then in the strategy team for London-based property developers Lodha UK. I have a Master’s in theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge, and my undergraduate degree was in Physics and Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand.

I also work as a freelance consultant, on strategy, management and decision-making.

Highlights

Work in progress papers

• Making confident decisions with model ensembles
• Against aggregation (of models)
• Opinion pooling and the novice/2-expert problem
• Formal epistemology as normative modelling
• Working paper on fictionalism about scientific models

Recent talks

• “Making confident decisions with models” — PSA Seattle, November 2018
• “Formal epistemology as an exercise in modelling” — LSE graduate seminar, September 2018
• “Making confident decisions with models” — ETH Atmospheric and Climate Science Colloquium (with Roman Frigg), May 2018
• “Making confident decisions with models” — LSE Choice Group, April 2018
• “Against Model Aggregation” — Models and Simulations 8, University of South Carolina, March 2018

Blog

• Weathering catastrophic storms (LSE Philosophy Blog)
• Against the use of skills scores for predictive climate models