Dr Samuel Livingstone

Dr Samuel Livingstone is an Associate Professor in Statistical Science.

When did you take up this position? What was your position beforehand?

I joined the faculty in the Department of Statistical Science in January 2018. Before that I was a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol. 

I enjoyed the freedom of being a postdoc but also felt a bit isolated at times. As faculty I have more responsibilities within the department as well as the wider academic community, which gives me a sense of ownership and belonging that I missed before.

Tell us about your work at UCL - how do you spend your days, and what makes your role different to similar positions elsewhere?

During term time my days are a mix between teaching lectures, office hours, meeting project students, meeting with PhD students/collaborators, administrative duties and also doing my own research. I like to spend as much time as I can at the whiteboard with students working through problems, whether this is in a teaching or research context. 

Outside of term I am mostly doing research. I particularly enjoy travelling to conferences and to see collaborators, as it gives me the chance to experience different environments and meet new people. I have good friends in Poland and Italy that I like working with, and it's always great to visit, especially for extended periods so that I can really get to know a different place.  

As an academic I do cherish the interactions that I have, as the nature of our work can be quite individual, so I find that without making special efforts to meet others the day-to-day existence can be lonely. 

What are some of your favourite things about working at UCL? How have you found it different to previous jobs?

I love the location of UCL, Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia are two areas of London with real character. There is lots of green space nearby and also great restaurant and cafe options. 

I also think that we have very motivated students, I am constantly impressed by their maturity and awareness of things like the job market, which is not something that I had at their age. I did work in industry for two years before starting my PhD, and I think a key difference was the timescales. In industry my projects would last weeks or months, and then we would quickly move on to the next client. In academia it usually takes years to go from conceiving an idea to having a paper accepted in a journal, so this was something that I had to adjust to.

Can you tell us about your research?

My main area of research is sampling algorithms/Monte Carlo. The goal is to generate samples with respect to a given probability distribution. It sounds very abstract, but it's actually a key step in many approaches to either learn from data or generate output from models, which are ubiquitous tasks in modern computational research.

Sampling is often the key step needed to do Bayesian statistics/machine learning, which is a popular approach to learning from data in many disciplines. Sampling is also the backbone of many molecular simulation approaches in statistical physics. 

Day-to-day my research involves designing stochastic processes and studying how quickly they converge to equilibrium, but that won't mean a lot to most people! On the more applied side I am currently working with health economists to help predict how long patients will survive on average after different treatments for given conditions. 

Bayesian statistical approaches work well in principle for these kinds of problems, but efficient sampling algorithms are needed to make them practical, which is where I come in.

Have you always been based in London? If not, when did you move here, and how did you find adapting to living in London?

I've lived in London for most of my adult life. I moved here for postgraduate study in 2008, then apart from one year in Lancaster and two in Bristol I never really left. It's difficult to spend much time elsewhere without getting bored - I think London has spoiled me in this way. 

Initially, I found the city overwhelming, but it's remarkable how quickly you adjust to its pace and density. I think it's a city that you have to find your way to navigate. There are often 4-5 different ways that you can get to work, for example, and some might be quite pleasant while others are horrendous, so you have to take the time to experiment and discover a way to live that works for you.

Finally, tell us about your non-work life. Do you have any hobbies, or favourite places to go in London?

I live in Blackheath in the Borough of Greenwich, and I love the local neighbourhood, it's so peaceful and green whilst also maintaining a real London feel. My wife and I spend many evenings in the flower garden of Greenwich Park.  

We started playing tennis a couple of years ago and that's currently our favourite hobby. It's a great way to have some fun and make friends, and I love the fact that people of all ages can participate. If you're ever interested in a game, then please do get in touch!