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Hi, I'm Benjamen

Benjamen Simon

Data Scientist | PhD Student at Lancaster University

I am a Data Scientist with a ravenous curiosity and a love of interacting with people and having real world impact. I’m also a Statistics PhD student at Lancaster University where I work on solving some of the biggest challenges we face using Statistics, Data Science, and modelling techniques 😎

Python, R, Julia
Data Analysis
Visualisation
Machine Learning
Leadership & Teamwork
Project Management

Skills

Experience

1
Data Scientist
UK Health Security Agency

January 2022 - April 2022, Remote

UKHSA provide intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage, to make the nation’s health secure.

Responsibilities:
  • Early career research intern specialising in modelling epidemics.
  • Predicted the reproduction number of COVID-19 to inform policy and the public.
  • Redeveloped the EpiBeds COVID-19 model using Markov chain Monte Carlo methodology to improve the reliability of the inference, automate the tuning process, and increase the speed of the code, saving 15 hours of work each week.
  • Led meetings with external shareholders to investigate what models and methods could be on-boarded to improve the accuracy and scope of our predictions, leading to the onboarding of two new models.
President, Teacher, and Community Leader
Lancaster Univesity Swing Dance

October 2018 - Present, Lancaster

Lancaster Univesity Swing Dance is a not-for-profit organisation that provides lessons and events related to Swing Dance for the local and national community.

Responsibilities:
  • Ran and organised the organisation, everything from weekly lessons to national 3-day events.
  • Enacted a range of data driven changes to the organisation which directly led to a 100% increase in membership, a 500% increase in revenue, and a 100% increase in activity, including increasing the variety of events by 100%.
  • Designed and spearheaded the post-lockdown relaunch campaign whilst managing and training a team of volunteers, training a cohort of new teachers, and developing a culture of constructive feedback and mutual growth within the group. By the end of the year member retention was up 150% compared to pre-lockdown rates, and the volunteer organising committee doubled.
  • Awarded the “Hidden Hero Society of the Year” at the university awards (2022), nominated for the performance award and personally nominated for the greatest individual contribution award.
2

Education

Statistics PhD
2018 - Present
Lancaster University
Description
  • A part of the Bayes4Health: New Approaches to Bayesian Data Science project
  • Fully funded for 4 years including a ~£15,000 stipend per year
Talks
Statistics MSc
2017 - 2018
Lancaster University
Classification: Distinction
Projects
Courses
Course NameCourse Name
Statistics in PracticeBayesian Inference
Likelihood InferenceGeneralised Linear Models
Computational Intensive MethodsPrinciples of Epidemiology
Clinical TrialsEnvironmental Epidemiology
Modelling of infectious diseasesLongitudinal Data Analysis
Awards
  • NIHR Studentship (Full course fees and a £15,000 stipend)
  • Postgraduate Statistics Centre Prize for 'Excellence in Learning' (highest cohort average)
  • Royal Statistical Society Prize for 'outstanding performance on an accredited programme'
Mathematics BSc
2014-2017
University of York
Classification: First with Distinction
Projects
  • Heavy Tails, Rare Events, and Infectious Diseases: Investigating superspreading through simulation.
Courses
Course NameCourse Name
Statistics I & IILinear Algebra
Bayesian StatisticsMultivariate Analysis
Applied ProbabilityStatistical Pattern Recognition
Survival AnalysisStochastic Processes
Time Series
Awards
  • Kathleen Ryan prize for outstanding performance in final year single subject BSc Mathematics (highest cohort average).

Projects

EpidemicR
EpidemicR
Owner 2018 - 2019

A functional package that allows user to generate simulated epidemics, make inference on epidemic data using gold-standard methodolgy, and create various epidemic related plots.

R Package PhD Epidemics
Star
SIR Epidemics
SIR Epidemics
Owner 2018 - 2019

A set of code that allows one to generate a range of simulated SIR epidemics, and make inference on them using the EpidemicR package. This work supports chapter 1 of my PhD thesis.

R PhD Epidemics
Star
SEIR Epidemics
SEIR Epidemics
Owner 2019 - 2020

A set of code that allows one to generate a range of simulated SEIR epidemics, and make inference on them using advanced methodologies, all coded in Julia for speed. This work supports chapter 2 of my PhD thesis.

Julia PhD Epidemics
Star
ABC for Epidemics
ABC for Epidemics
Nothing 2017 - 2018

A set of code to run a selection of Approximate Bayesian Computation inference methods on an array of different epidemic data, both real and simulated. This work formed the foundation of my Masters thesis.

R Masters Epidemics
Star

Recent Posts

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Optimal pricing strategy for a Ride Hailing Service

I was tasked with proposing the highest profit yielding pricing strategy for a new Ride Hailing Service based on data from similar services in the area. I proposed 3 distinct pricing strategies and used simulation methods to explore the optimal parameters for each strategy, and then comparing the yield of each, identified the optimal strategy. I used a logistic regression model for the data to estimate the probability that a given pay rate for a ride request would be accepted.

January 14, 2023 Read
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How to Model Epidemics

Here is a link to the slides of my talk titled: How to Model the Spread of Epidemics This talk was delivered at the PyData Lancaster October 2022 Meetup.

November 9, 2022 Read
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An Introduction to Epidemic Modelling

Have you ever wondered how to model an epidemic? This post is currently a place holder, but will contain the following: What is epidemic data? How do we model epidemic data? What is the process for getting insights from epidemic data? What methods are used to make inference on those models? What can be done with that inference? This post will be a general overview of the process, and will link to other posts which go deeper into each topic.

November 9, 2022 Read

Certificates & Awards

National Institute for Health Research Scholarship
Lancaster University 2017 - 2018

I was award a studentship which covered the full course fees of my Statistics Masters degree and afforded me a ~£15,000 stipend for the year.

Python for Everybody (Specialization)
Coursera Sep 2022 - Oct 2022

This series of courses provides a broad introduction to fundamental programming concepts including data structures, networked application program interfaces, and databases, using the Python programming language. It also involves segments on SQL, JSON, XML, and database design. In the capstone project I used the technologies learned throughout the Specialization to design and create my own applications for data retrieval, processing, and visualization.

View Certificate