Skip to main content Skip to navigation

CV

Curriculum Vitae

Martine J. Barons 

Contact: Complexity Complex, Zeeman Building, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL

Click on 'Page contact: Martine Barons' at bottom of this page to send an email.

Research interests: Mathematical modelling and analysis of human systems, Machine Learning, Healthcare, Personalised medicine, Data analysis.


I joined the Department of Statistics in December 2012 to work with Professor Jane Hutton , Professor Jim Q. Smith and Professor Tony Marson , exploring the role of Chain Event Graphs in modelling and managing chronic diseases.

In September 2013 I was appointed to a Research fellow position for 3 years to work with Prof Jim Q Smith on coherent inference over a network of probabilistic systems for decision support with applications to food security.

My doctoral research in Complexity Science involves the use of relevant machine learning techniques to analyse healthcare data sets with a view to personalising healthcare. I use two contrasting datasets from a clinical trial and an observational study and compare the performance of the machine learning technique relative to standard statistical analysis. I am a responsible individual with excellent organisational skills, able to work on my own initiative or contribute as part of a team. I am able to plan a project and see it through to fruition, using creative thinking to circumnavigate the obstacles. I am able to motivate others to work towards a shared goal, to create and maintain professional networks, to teach and to engage members of the public with science at an appropriate level. I enjoy media work and have successfully created opportunities for myself in this area.

 

Skills

Communication

I am proficient at both written and verbal communication for audiences with technical and non technical backgrounds alike. I have given talks at Conferences and at internal events and received compliments for the quality of my presentations' I had one of my posters highly commended, and another awarded a prize at a large, international conference.

Leadership

I am experienced and successful in leadership in a variety of contexts. I ran, with 7 others, a 3-day conference called ‘Young Researchers in Mathematics 2011 for around 200 delegates, plus keynote speakers. We received many compliments for the running of the conference, and during the planning phase, my detailed forward planning was particularly appreciated by my peers.

Initiative

I am willing to make things happen and capable of setting up a project from new. With one other collaborator, a mathematician working in industry, I set up the West Midlands Branch of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, which is now thriving with good audience numbers and regular, interesting speakers.

Team working

I am interested and successful in building a cohesive and effective team in whatever context I am working. I have used informal social events to successfully foster a sense of unity within the Complexity Science doctoral training centre particularly across cohorts, despite being a mature student, and therefore needing first to overcome the natural social difference across generations.

Networking

I am skilled and practised at networking and maintaining relevant contacts. Within the research arena, I have maintained contact with colleagues with whom I have shared interests, e.g. I kept sufficient communication with researchers I met at a conference that I was able to invite them to a seminar of shared interest when they were visiting my institution, and was subsequently able to make fruitful contact with their student at another conference. I have also been able to link my contacts to each other where their work is related, to the benefit of those concerned e.g. a Warwick colleague and an ICCS delegate both analysing patient interviews.

Problem Solving

I am skilled at identifying the root of a problem and proposing and evaluating candidate solutions against relevant criteria. My Doctoral research has provided many such examples, including the need to identify pertinent research questions and select the most appropriate technique or software for the analysis.

Time management

I can successfully prioritise and plan tasks so that my time is used to maximum advantage. I have undertaken my both undergraduate and postgraduate study against a background of family responsibilities and still managed to engage significantly with professional bodies and the wider research community.

Interpersonal skills

I am able to adapt to colleagues with a wide variety of working styles and preferences and work together towards a shared goal. Complexity science is deliberately multi-disciplinary, requiring significant communication and interpersonal skills. I have helped to inaugurate and maintain a young researcher’s presence within the European Conference on Complex Systems with colleagues from scientific backgrounds ranging from psychology to physical sciences.

Financial management

I am able to prioritise, plan and manage spending of a budget. I effectively managed a small travel budget during my PhD, including augmenting it with outside funding, and maximising the benefit of the expenditure by choosing conferences and other meetings with care, and following up on the research and researchers I encountered there.

Research skills

I have the ability to define useful research directions, access literature and other background information and evaluate and implement suitable methodologies for answering the question. I have acquired knowledge and understanding of unfamiliar contextual and technical background to my research area, particularly medical background. I have proposed and discussed research questions and methodologies and have been successful in identifying sub-groups in the patient data.

Teaching

I have effective teaching skills with secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate students. I have built on the experience I had in presenting health messages in schools, and have taught an undergraduate module on Mathematical Modelling and Problem solving to two consecutive cohorts of first-year mathematicians. I have also taught elementary statistics to postgraduate students on Masters Programmes and the Medical School, and have successfully completed a H.E. teaching qualification.

Motivating others

I like to motivate and inspire others to achieve, especially to achieve beyond what they believe they can. I have been instrumental in encouraging others to take up hobbies and courses of study which they formerly believed they were incapable of, such as learning musical instruments and embarking on a PhD. My own experience of being denied access to A-level maths at secondary school only to be highly successful as a mature student is useful for leading by example.

Ability to learn

I am able to identify my own learning needs and to access relevant training and to learn independently. I have been proactive in accessing appropriate elements of the rich Research Student Skills Programme during my PhD, and have embedded the relevant principles into my personal practice, e.g. meeting my supervisors face to face once a month but keeping in touch by sending a brief weekly report.

Public engagement

I am passionate about sharing my love of science, and in particular mathematics, with the wider public. I have delivered a talk on Machine Learning to members of the public at my local Cafe Scientifique. The audience was very mixed, most having no scientific background, but I was able to help them understand machine learning and its relevance to their lives and to I answer their questions. Public engagement

Media skills

I have a good level of skill in dealing appropriately with the media. I have taken training and written a number of press releases leading to maths – related newspaper articles and a live broadcast radio interview. Following my first radio interview, the broadcaster has asked me to provide maths-related content on subsequent occasions, also as live broadcast interviews and at short notice.

Strengths

Strengths analysis using the Realise2 tool identified my strengths as: planning, mission, catalyst, gratitude, order, change agent, explainer, humour, self-awareness, counterpoint, work ethic, growth, personalisation and resilience.

Education

PhD in progress, expected completion Autumn 2012.

MSc Complexity Science

BSc (Hons) First class in Mathematics

HND: Business Studies with Accountancy, Distinction

 

Employment

In reverse chronological order:

  • University of Warwick

Department of Statistics Research Assistant: Chain Event Graphs for modelling and managing chronic disease

  • University of Warwick

Studentship in Complexity Science doctoral training centre. MSc in 2008/9, Doctoral research 2009/12.

  • Coventry University

Lecturer (HPL, part time). Delivery of the second half of the module 123MSE Mathematical Modelling and Problem Solving in two consecutive academic years. Performance rated 'Excellent' under the annual review process on the scale Unacceptable, Development required, Improvement required, Strong, Excellent, Outstanding.

  • ACET Educator Accreditation

ACET / CREd. Delivering Sex and Relationships Education, in schools as a visiting speaker

  • Complete World Travel, Stratford-upon-Avon

Bookkeeping (holiday cover)

  • Avon Insurance, Stratford-upon-Avon

Administration and processing motor insurance claims

  • Systemography Ltd.

Company Secretary

Bookkeeping and accounts

  • H.L. Barnes and Sons, Chartered Accountants, Stratford-upon-Avon

Accounts assistant / trainee

To Prepare Accounts, and Auditing

  • Motorcycle Instructor, Star Rider Scheme

Motorcycle Instructor, including Chief Instructor.

 

Awards and Memberships

  • Poster Prize: research poster presented at European Conference on Complex Systems 2011, Vienna, September 2011.
  • Eportfolio competition winner: Warwick Medical School inaugural e-portfolio competition September 2011.
  • Poster Highly commended: research poster presented at Warwick Medical School Annual Research Student Symposium January 2011.
  • Sigma Prize for excellence in supporting and encouraging the learning of Mathematics.
  • Associate Member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
  • Student member of the Royal Statistical Society
  • Junior Membership of the Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences

 

Organisational roles

  • Institute of Physics, Non-linear and Complex Physics group committee. Summer meeting 2013, Oxford.
  • Diabetes workshops for clinicians, statisticians and patients to collaborate and define research directions.
  • Royal Statistical Society West Midlands Group organising committee. RSS_WMG
  • Organising committee for the inauguaral Young Researcher Network at European Conference on Complex Systems 2011, sponsored by FuturICT YRN at ECCS2011
  • Organising committee for Young Researchers in Mathematics 2011 YRM2011
  • Organising committee for Satellite meeting of European Conference on Complex Systems 2010 Young researchers session at ECCS 2010
  • Organising committee for Satellite meeting of European Conference on Complex Systems 2009 PhD "In Progress" Workshop (inaugural event)
  • Branch Secretary: West Midlands Branch of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. IMA West Midlands Branch ( Re-established branch)
  • IMA representative for University of Warwick.

 

Research Skills and other courses:

  • Kitchen Hygiene Certificate Level 2; 2003, 2008, 2011
  • Effective Research (2-day course)
  • Poster Creation and Design
  • Presenting to an Academic Audience
  • Voice training
  • Science Communication
  • Presentations Training (2-day course)
  • Effective Literature Searching Techniques
  • Introduction to SPSS (PASW) Statistics 17
  • Microsoft Publisher 2007 Overview for beginners
  • Microsoft Access 2007 Introduction to design
  • How to Write a Literature Review - Science and Medicine
  • Developing and improving your memory
  • Interview success workshop
  • Microsoft Access 2007 - using filters and queries to extract information
  • Organising an academic conference
  • Getting the most out of conferences
  • SPSS (PASW) Statistics 17 - Data operations
  • Microsoft Excel 2007 - New features for experienced users
  • Negotiate like a pro
  • One-day Media workshop
  • Getting Published - Successfully (for Science, Technology, Engineering & Medicine)
  • Writing for Publication
  • Mature Student Careers Workshop
  • MSOR Network: Supporting Postgraduates who teach Mathematics
  • Institute for Advanced Study: Early Career Fellowships, successful applications.
  • Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, ECM conference: Facilitation, a skill for life.
  • Sitebuilder2 - creating forms and quizzes
  • Sitebuilder2 - adding news and events
  • How to make a Digital Poster
  • Maths Busking
  • Writing that is interesting to read
  • Introduction to Academic and Professional Practice parts I and II (H.E.Teaching)
  • Managing Transition in Complex environments
  • Preparing for and Surviving your Viva
  • Preparing to Manage
  • Data Management
  • Practical Project Management for Researchers part I and II

 

Community Activities

School Governor:

1996-2002 Stratford Primary School, Finance & Governor training.

2000 -2005 Stratford-upon-Avon High School, Curriculum & Head’s Performance Management.

Church:

Sunday school: teach and organise curriculum and rota.

Holiday Bible Club for 4 to 11 year olds; teach and organise age groups.

Women’s Study Group; teach and organise.

Speaker’s Corner; training for speaking engagements.

Catering

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Please click on 'Page contact: Martine Barons' below to send an email

.