Hi, I am Alison. I recently received my PhD in Mathematics from Lancaster University and am now a research fellow at the University of St Andrews.
My research interests include how different areas of Mathematics interconnect. I am particularly interested in rigidity theory, an area of mathematics aimed at studying certain geometric properties of combinatorial objects, after they have been embedded into a given space.
During my PhD, I have focused on symmetric structures, and I was specifically concerned with the role of geometry, representation theory and combinatorics in the rigidity properties of such symmetric structures.
At the University of St Andrews, my focus has shifted from both symmetry and the rigidity notion I previously focused on. I now consider rigidity from an algebraic geometric and matroid theoretic perspective to understand the space of balanced forces within a structure.