photographist

“When I was little I loved puzzles, witty comments and brainteasers. This was probably due to my education. My parents gave me things like these to play with rather than dolls for me to dress up...
My doctoral thesis deals with the complexity of distributed algorithms. Algorithms are the science of systematically handling problems of all kinds, and “distributed” means there are several agents or people or computers – whatever the group of intelligent things might be – that can think and calculate how to resolve the problems collectively. These are problems that appear in complex environments, such as the Internet network. They might also involve a social network: me, my friend, my friend’s friend, my family, my district – this also represents a network. I am studying how to solve problems in this context, and also how to characterise their complexity and the ease (or otherwise) of solving them.

When you find what you are looking for, you have a truly unique feeling of pride and huge happiness – I think this is the best thing about the job of a researcher! As my thesis progresses, I am getting more and more of a taste for research and the whole process of concentrating on one question, where you are free to choose your line of questioning. IT has somewhat geeky connotations, and is seen as being rather masculine. These are just clichés put about by some people, and IT is actually nothing like that. The first IT programme in the world was initiated by a British woman, Ada Lovelace. Women researchers are all too rare, and they really produce interesting results and papers. They have certainly won their place! We have to act a little like pioneers and things will change... It is an area in which I feel really good, and I love what I am doing. Being curious, passionate, enjoying making discoveries and sharing your knowledge, are all just qualities!”

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