The first six weeks we had lectures covering statistics and operational research in particular in 4 main areas: Probability and Stochastic Processes, Inference and Modelling, Stochastic SimulationÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýDeterministic Optimisation.  Despite there being lots to learn in a short space of time, it has been an enjoyable time growing my knowledge in statistics and learning about OR.

The last four weeks of the term we had Contemporary Topic Sprints. We were introduced to a new topic in Statistics/OR in the form of a long lecture and then split into groups where we presented with a task/challenge to research and then present by the end of the week. The 4 topics covered were Optimisation under Uncertainty, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), Changepoints and Statistical Learning for Decision. I really enjoyed working in groups and all the topics were interesting hence I am unable to choose which sprint was the best. However, we have a chance to further investigate one, I am currently writing a report as further research into these sprints for MCMC.

That’s the conclusion of my entry to my first blog. Stay connected for upcoming updates on my MRes year!