The Many Paths to Data Science

What does a data scientist actually do? And how do you become one? Data is everywhere. Every day, vast amounts of information are generated through research, healthcare, business, technology, and our daily lives. But collecting data is only part of the story. The real challenge lies in making sens…

Modelling the Mysteries of Multiple Sclerosis – with Dr Adrianne Jenner

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, affects millions of people worldwide, yet many aspects of the disease remain poorly understood. One of its defining characteristics is the way symptoms can fluctuate over time, with periods of relapse followed by remission. What drives these cycles, and why does the disea…

Science at Pandemic Speed: The Clinical Trial that Changed COVID Care - with Professor Thomas Jaki

In 2020, as COVID-19 spread across the globe, researchers faced an urgent challenge: finding treatments that could save the lives of patients hospitalised with the virus. One of the most important efforts was the RECOVERY trial, a clinical trial designed to rapidly test potential therapies and gene…

Academia or Industry? Why Professor Roslyn Hickson Chose Both

It’s a question many early career researchers grapple with: academia or industry?  For Professor Roslyn Hickson, the answer is simple: why choose? Roslyn is an applied mathematician with a joint appointment at CSIRO and James Cook University, where she serves as Science Leader for Emerging Infecti…

The Algorithm that Transformed Optimisation - with Dr Sophie Huiberts

How do airlines schedule flights, logistics companies route deliveries, and supermarkets manage stock? Many of these challenges are examples of linear programming problems – and one algorithm has dominated their solution for decades: the Simplex Method. Widely regarded as one of the most importan…

From DNA to Discovery: How Statistics Brings the Ancient Past to Life - with Dr Adam "Ben" Rohrlach & Dr Simon "Jono" Tuke

How are statistics and data science transforming advances in genetic sequencing into new insights about how people lived, formed families, and organised their societies thousands of years ago? Our guests are Dr Adam “Ben” Rohrlach, an Australian statistician at the Max Planck Institute for Evoluti…

From Granular to Nano: Big Science at Small Scales – with Prof Natalie Thamwattana

In this episode of The Random Sample, we explore the science of scale – from the behaviour of granular materials to the remarkable world of nanotechnology. Professor Natalie Thamwattana, an applied mathematician from the University of Newcastle, shows how studying the very small can lead to big ins…

Tracking the Spread of Vaccine Hesitancy - with Prof Stacey Smith?

Mathematics is often used to model how diseases spread. But what about the spread of information – or misinformation – about those diseases and their vaccines? Professor Stacey Smith? from the University of Ottawa is a trans mathematician whose research focuses on modelling infectious diseases. In…

What Maths can tell us about Women's Health - with Prof Alys Clark & Dr Claire Miller

Mathematics is not often associated with women’s health, yet the mathematical sciences are playing an increasingly important role in understanding pregnancy, reproductive health, and chronic conditions that disproportionately affect women. Professor Alys Clark and Dr Claire Miller, both from the A…

Game Theory: The Mathematics of Strategic Choices - with Dr Maria Kleshnina

Each year, the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Program recognises a small number of exceptional female early‑career researchers in Australia and New Zealand with a prestigious fellowship. In 2025, for the first time since the program began in 2007, the award went to a mathematician: Dr Maria Kl…