Mugshot

Bio

I grew up in Sydney, where I went to Middle Harbour Public School, Neutral Bay Public School and North Sydney Boys High School. In 1969 we spent a year in Tübingen and London, and in 1975-76 a year in New Haven. I was in the school orchestra and choir. I took part in several school musical coproductions with North Sydney Girls High, including playing the role of Frederick in the Pirates of Penzance in 1979. I was in the school debating team that won the state-wide Hume Barbour competition in 1980.

Pirates Pirates of Penzance, 1979

Debating team North Sydney Boys High debating team, 1980

I studied pure mathematics and computer science at the Australian National University. My doctorate was in applied mathematics, modelling the geometry of self-assembled microstructure in surfactant systems. I was based at the ANU but also spent time in Paris and Lund. I had postdoctoral fellowships in Bordeaux and ANU, and lectured in mathematics at Sydney and Macquarie. In 1998 I changed fields to computer science and taught at the ANU for almost ten years.

In 2003-4 I studied creative writing at the University of Canberra. In 2006-7 I trained as a psychotherapist and counsellor at the Jansen-Newman Institute in Sydney. I practised psychotherapy part-time in Canberra until the end of 2009.

I lived in the north of Scotland for 7 years from 2010, during which time I taught computing at the University of the Highlands and Islands. I lived in France, near Paris for 5 years from 2018 to 2023. I returned to Scotland in November 2023.

Work

I did a PhD in applied mathematics at the Australian National University (ANU), had postdocs with the CNRS in Bordeaux and at ANU, and teaching positions at the University of Sydney and Macquarie University.

In 1998 I changed fields. I had a tenured lectureship in computer science at ANU and was later leader of the computing degree at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Scotland.

In 2017 I left academia and worked at Quintessence Labs in Canberra and then at Cryptosense in Paris. In 2022 Cryptosense was acquired by SandboxAQ, a Google X (“the moonshot factory”) spinout.

Interests

  • Bushwalking / walking / hiking / randonnée, whether in mountains, forests or along coastlines. I have done a few walks of a week or so: the Great Glen Way in Scotland, Djebel Siroua in Morocco, around the Kaisergebirge in Austria, the Corfu trail. Interested in a longer walk some time, maybe the Camino.

    Djebel Siroua Djebel Siroua, Morocco, March 2016

  • Music: Choral singing, in particular of the baroque period. Between choirs right now. Also playing the piano: Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Mozart…

  • Australian literature: Helen Garner, Tim Winton…

  • Non-formulaic science fiction: Ursula K. LeGuin, Doris Lessing, William Gibson, Margaret Atwood, Cory Doctorow, Neal Stephenson…

  • Visual art: drawing, printmaking, mixed media, mathematical art…

  • Personal growth, therapy, trauma, sexual politics, men’s work.

  • Politics, social change, science, the environment.