Starting in November 2025, I became a Visiting Fellow at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). From 26 November, I spent two and a half weeks with the School of Mathematical Sciences, hosted by the Applied Mathematical Ecology Group (AMEG) and Dr Maria Kleshnina.
At the Applied Mathematical Ecology Group
During my time at QUT, I joined AMEG group meetings and had the chance to learn more about their work. The group brings together researchers with strong quantitative backgrounds who apply mathematical tools to study ecological systems and their links to the human communities that rely on them. Their integrative approach allows them to address large and often uncertain environmental problems from a rigorous, modelling-based perspective.
I also met researchers involved in the Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF) initiative. These conversations gave me insight into the ecological questions they are tackling, the types of datasets they work with, and the analytical methods they apply in their research.
Research Collaboration
My main goal was to work with Dr Kleshnina, an expert on the evolution of social behaviour, repeated games, and inequality.
Much of my past work has focused on how differences in cognitive abilities affect the evolution of cooperation in game-theoretic settings. However, none of my previous work had considered what happens when cognitively different individuals (unequals) interact with one another.
During my visit, we explored two research questions related to inequality:
- Different endowments and productivity: How do unequal resources or productivity levels affect coordination over contributions in repeated interactions?
- Stochastic games with inequality: In stochastic games, the interaction is not fixed—the underlying game depends on the state of the world, and that state evolves based on previous actions. Previous work has examined how players with different information levels behave, but not what happens when players with different information interact.
Presentation
While at QUT, I gave a talk on some of my current work and had the opportunity to discuss ideas with students and faculty from the School of Mathematical Sciences. See the slides here.
Visiting the University of Queensland
I also took the CityCat ferry to visit the University of Queensland’s beautiful riverside campus!
A Visit to Monash University
Midway through my stay, I flew to Melbourne to visit Monash University. I toured the Faculty of Information Technology and discussed ongoing work and potential collaborations with Dr Julián García and Prof. Toby Handfield.
Summary
My Visiting Fellow position lasts for a year, and I’m excited to see where these projects lead. And of course, being in Australia had its perks: I ate far too many Tim Tams, went surfing, and even fed kangaroos!
