My name is Robert Whittaker, and I am an applied mathematician at
the University of East Anglia. Welcome
to my website. If you want to get in touch with me, send an email to:
robert@(nospam)mathmos.net
or tweet @rjw62. A
brief biography appears below, but for something more interesting, you
might also like to try some of the following links:
I was born in 1980, and moved with my parents to their home in the village of Bredon when I was about two. I went to the local village primary school, then the middle school over the hill, and finally to Prince Henry's High School in Evesham. In October 1998, I took up a place at Pembroke College, Cambridge to read mathematics. I graduated with a BA (hons) in June 2001, and then returned to complete Part III of the Mathematical Tripos, which is taken as a separate fourth year. There were many courses to choose from, and I concentrated on those relating to fluid dynamics.
Whilst at Cambridge, I joined, and later helped run the university juggling society, improving my juggling skills and learning to ride a unicycle. I also got involved with my college science society, learnt a bit of ballroom dancing, did lots of punting, and designed a website for my tennis club back home.
I continued at Cambridge to complete a PhD in fluid mechanics. I was supervised by John Lister, in the Institute of Theoretical Geophysics. My dissertation was entitled “Theoretical Solutions for Convective Flows in Geophysically Motivated Regimes”. I then did a postdoc on 3D time-dependent flows in collapsible elastic tubes, in OCIAM at the University of Oxford, before taking up a permanent lecturing position at the University of East Anglia. Further details can be found on my research page.
When I'm not working, I enjoy messing about with computers and the internet, and also walking, cycling and photography. I'm an active contributor to OpenStreetMap (user profile; tools). I'm a also a Volunteer Ranger and Group Coordinator for Sustrans (and you can read about what I get up to on my Thetford Ranger Blog). I join Friends of Thetford Forest volunteers on their monthly conseration working group. I'm a regular participant at Thetford Parkrun, where I'm also a Volunteer Run Director. More recently, I've got annoyed with the lack of transparency in local decision-making, and in particular around the Greater Thetford Development Partnership. I've started the One Thetford website to improve transparency and accountability. For several years I was a volunteer editor for the Open Directory Project (now Curlie). I used to play tennis and hockey quite regularly, but haven't had much chance to do so in the last few years.