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What do you like most about your job?

What I enjoy most about my work is the in-depth research and finding all there is to know about a subject. I’m given a lot of scope and freedom to this when it comes to the topics I want to explore and learn more about. I’m also given a lot of time to learn new skills. For example, when I started my PhD, I wasn’t very good at programming. So I took 2 months to just focus on learning how to program and now I use it all the time in my research.

Is there a project from this past year you are particularly proud of?

Together with both of my supervisors, I developed a new optimisation technique last year. This made it possible to find approximate solutions to certain optimisation problems that previously couldn’t be solved. I’m proud to be able to use this technique to make the world a slightly better place. I’m testing the technique in a few different ways. Right now I’m using it for a World Food Programme (WFP) optimal food supply chain problem in Syria.

What don’t most colleagues know about you?

I’m terrified of wasps, I play piano in my leisure time, and I love playing board games. I can get pretty competitive when I play, but I’m also a gracious loser (in theory that is, because of course I never lose…).