About me

I'm a current PhD student at the University and a graduate teaching assistant in the School of Computing Science. My main research profile can be viewed here: Ethan Kelly. I completed my undergraduate degree (BSc) at the University of Glasgow in Mathematics and Philosophy, and I am very excited to now be a postgraduate here!

I am also an associate member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and work mainly in mathematical and formal problems in Computing Science, with my main research being into developing meaningful models using graph problems.

Contact Details

I can be reached at either my research or staff email:

• e.kelly.1@research.gla.ac.uk (research, preferred)
• Ethan.Kelly@glasgow.ac.uk (staff)

Pandemic notwithstanding, I would normally be based in:

Current Research Interests

I am working on using the Firefighter Problem to model scenarios such as disease spread and dissemination of ideas through communications networks. In particular, I am interested in applying stochastic and game-theoretic methods to Firefighter in order to imbue the model with more realistic features. For instance, rather than a straightforward rule about when fire spreads to neighbouring vertices, we introduce a probability of this occurring, removing the assumption that entire populations are well mixed and have equal chance of passing on a disease or piece of information to anyone they have contact with, since this is a far cry from reality (when introducing social distancing, the structure of social groups and so on).

I am also interested in the ethical implications and payoff considerations when introducing various measures to limit the spread of disease or communications across a given network. For instance, are there measures that may halt the spread of a disease quickly but are considered too damaging or draconian to the population to be justified? Or what are the ramifications of pursuing a herd-immunity approach for a new disease in which the acquisition of immunity is not understood?

Previous Research

Previously, I have had a keen interest in acoustics and using mathematical models to describe acoustical principles, such as solutions to the acoustic wave equation in different coordinate systems to provide graphs of waves (given useful boundary conditions) in applications such as the pipe organ or other Helmholtz resonators like those used in architecture and engineering.

I have also followed closely research and developments in artificial intelligence, and the ethical consequences thereof; bioethics, more generally; and areas of discrete mathematics. I hope to return to these areas of research in the near future and would be happy to collaborate on publications in these areas.

I am currently a demonstrator for two level 2 courses:

• COMPSCI2001: Java Programming 2
• COMPSCI2003: Algorithmic Foundations 2

If you are a current student, or prospective student interested in hearing about these courses or similar, please feel free to contact me through the methods above. I am more than happy to discuss University life, courses and so on (as a recent graduate myself).