David's Group

Here, I list the members (past and present) of my research group, as well as undergraduate students that I have supervised through summer projects, reading courses and all that. This is mostly for my benefit — I'm reaching an age where it helps to write stuff like this down — but hopefully they don't mind being publicly associated with me in this way...

If you think you'd like to work with me, send me an email or drop past my office. You can probably get a good sense for the type of things my students tend to work on below. If you're looking to do a vacation scholars project with me, here are a few ideas that I had to come up with a few years back. However, it's always best to come and have a chat!

• Postdoc

  • Zachary Fehily (ARC Research Associate). UMelb, 2023–24.

  • Justine Fasquel (UniMelb Research Associate). UMelb, 2022–25.

  • Kazuya Kawasetsu (ARC Research Associate). UMelb, 2017–19. Now tenured at Kumamoto University.

  • Shashank Kanade (Endeavour Fellowship). UMelb, 2017. Now tenured at Denver University.

  • Simon Wood (ARC DECRA Fellowship). ANU, 2014–16. Now tenured at Cardiff University.

• PhD

  • Jingqi (Siris) Sun. , UMelb, 2024–27.

  • Damodar Rajbhandari. , UMelb, 2023–26.

  • Changzhi (Charles) Gao. , UMelb, 2023–26.

  • Ethan Fursman. , UMelb, 2023–26.

  • Zachary Fehily. Subregular W-algebras, UMelb, 2018–22. Now postdoc at UMelb.

  • Christopher Raymond. Algebraic aspects of conformal field theory, UQ, 2016–19. Now postdoc at Université Laval, Québec.

  • Tianshu Liu. Coset construction for the N=2 and osp(1|2) minimal models, UMelb, 2015–19. Now postdoc at the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University.

  • Steve Siu. Singular vectors for the W_N algebras and the BRST cohomology for relaxed highest-weight L_k(sl(2)) modules, UMelb, 2014–19. Now working for Oracle.

  • Michael Cromer. Free field realisations in logarithmic conformal field theory, ANU, 2013–19. Now working in defence.

  • Michael Canagasabey. Fusion rules in logarithmic superconformal minimal models, ANU, 2012–16.

• MPhil

  • Will Stewart. On the Nappi-Witten model H₄, UMelb, 2018–19. Now PhD at University of Texas at Austin.

  • John Snadden. An admissible level osp(1|2)-model, ANU, 2014–16. Now PhD at Northwestern University.

• MSc

  • Peter Karapalidis. , UMelb, 2024–25.

  • James Brooks. Holonomies in quantum systems under adiabatic processes, UMelb, 2022–23.

  • Albert Griggs. Conformal field theory and vertex operator algebras, UMelb, 2021–22.

  • Xueting (Kitty) Li. The bosonic ghost system in conformal field theory, UMelb, 2021–22.

  • Benjamin Gerraty. The structure constants of the minimal models, UMelb, 2020–21. Now PhD at UMelb.

  • Daniel Tan. Vertex operator algebras, modular tensor categories and a Kazhdan–Lusztig correspondence at a non-negative integral level, UMelb, 2019–20. Now PhD at Rutgers University, USA.

  • Tyson Field. Wess-Zumino-Witten models and the Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations, UMelb, 2017–18. Now working for Accenture.

  • William Stewart. On the twisted sector of Wess-Zumino-Witten models, UMelb, 2016–17. Now PhD at University of Texas at Austin, USA.

• Honours/Graduate Diploma

  • Matthew Geleta (Physics). The Coulomb gas formalism, ANU, 2015. Now PhD at Cambridge.

  • Tianshu Liu (Physics). The boson-fermion correspondence and its applications, ANU, 2014.

  • Hiroyuki Nagamine (Physics). An introduction to string theory, ANU, 2012–13. Now working for the Japanese Patent Office.

• Summer Research Scholars

  • Daniel Greenham (Mathematical Physics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2024.

  • Peter Karapalidis (Mathematical Physics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2024.

  • Ming Li Wong (Pure Mathematics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2024.

  • David Chen (Pure Mathematics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2021.

  • Bridget Gatt (Applied Mathematics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2020.

  • Eric Ma (Mathematical Physics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2020.

  • Steven Xu (Pure Mathematics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2020.

  • Steven Xu (Pure Mathematics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2019.

  • Lukas Anagnostou (Mathematical Physics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2018. Now PhD at UMelb.

  • Daniel Tan (Pure Mathematics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2018.

  • Madeleine Johnson (Pure Mathematics). UMelb, Jan–Feb 2017.

  • Lawrence Dam (Physics). ANU, Dec–Jan 2015.

  • Scott Melville (Physics). ANU, Dec–Jan 2015. Now PhD at Imperial College.

  • Thao Le (Mathematics). ANU, Dec–Jan 2015.

  • Hadleigh Frost (Physics). ANU, Dec 2013–Jan 2014. Now PhD (Rhodes Scholar) at Oxford.

  • James Bonifacio (Mathematics). ANU, Dec 2011–Jan 2012. Now PhD (Rhodes Scholar) at Oxford.

  • James Fletcher (Mathematics). ANU, Dec 2011–Jan 2012.

  • Elisabeth Kava (Mathematics). ANU, Dec 2011–Jan 2012. Now with the NSW Department of Family and Community Services.

  • Steven Sammut (Physics). ANU, Dec 2010–Jan 2011.

• Special Topics Courses

  • Yu Zheng (Mathematics). Introduction to String Theory, ANU, Autumn Term, 2015.

  • Maxim Jeffs (Mathematics). Lie Algebras and their Representation Theory, ANU, Semester 1, 2015.

  • Tianshu Liu (Physics). Introduction to String Theory, ANU, Semester 2, 2013.

  • Clement Schlegel (Mathematics). An Introduction to Lie Theory, ANU, Semester 2, 2013.

  • Saptarshi Das (Mathematics). Lie Algebras and Applications in Physics, ANU, Semester 2, 2012.

  • Hao He (Physics). Introduction to String Theory, ANU, Semester 2, 2012.

  • Sebastian Mueller (Mathematics). Introduction to Lie Algebras, ANU, Semester 1, 2012.

  • Alan Yin (Mathematics). Introduction to Lie Algebras, ANU, Semester 1, 2012.

  • Sarama Tonetto (Physics). Introduction to String Theory, ANU, Semester 2, 2011.

• PhB Mentoring

  • Yu Zheng (Mathematics). ANU, 2014–15 Now MSc at Bonn.

  • Hannah Smith (Physics). ANU, 2011–13. Now Phd at Oxford.

  • Daniel Comber-Todd (Physics). ANU, 2011–14.

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