Dr. Shannon Algar is an applied mathematician using sophisticated modelling techniques to understand complex, real-world systems, like the timing of ice ages and species extinction.
Shannon is a post-doctoral researcher and Forrest Prospect Fellow with the Complex Systems Group at the University of Western Australia. Her research is centred around systems modelling, covering broad areas of Complexity, Swarm Intelligence, Reservoir Computing, Topological Data Analysis and Time Series Analysis.
The power (and fun!) of the mathematics of complex systems lies in the generality of these systems and their mathematical properties. This allows similar models to help us understand, predict and, ultimately, influence systems of vastly different scale and origin. For example, Shannon has also worked on crowd behaviour, opinion formation and heart failure.
She is currently collaborating with agricultural scientists towards improving animal welfare through the early detection of stress and the understanding of individual internal rhythms. It’s interdisciplinary efforts at understanding our world like this that make studying complex systems so enjoyable for her.
