Dr Samik Datta

Staff Search

Qualifications

2.1 (Hons) M.Sci Natural Sciences (Maths with Chemistry), University of Durham, UK (2003 - 2007)
Ph.D. 'A mathematical analysis of marine size spectra', Department of Biology, University of York, UK (2008 - 2011)

Location

Wellington

Science Centre

Coasts and Estuaries

Environmental Information

Topics

Stock assessments and surveys

Marine mammals

Contact Details

Contact

Biography

Overview

I am a senior scientist based at NIWA Wellington in the Population Modelling group since 2017. I have also been group manager since October 2019.

My area of focus is mathematical modelling and simulation of biological systems. This involves a combination of analytical mathematical methods and simulation-based studies. My experience lies largely in:

- modelling marine ecosystems (particularly using size-based methods),
- modelling the spread of infection and disease over space and time (epidemiology), and
- fisheries analyses (e.g., characterisations, CPUE analyses, stock assessments).

My work covers a broad range of topics, including fisheries, multi-species marine ecosystem modelling, spatial movement and invasions, future predictive modelling and management strategy comparisons.

Background

My background is in mathematical modelling and simulation.

2003 - 2007: I completed my undergraduate Masters in Natural Sciences (Maths with Chemistry) at the University of Durham (UK).
2008 - 2011: I completed my Ph.D. in the Biology Department at the University of York (UK), developing size-based models of marine ecosystems.
2011 - 2017: I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Warwick, applying mathematics to the spread of infectious diseases (epidemiology), to predict how different infections transmit, and testing the effectiveness of different control strategies. This was applied to both honeybee diseases and human infections including human papillomavirus (HPV) and pertussis (whooping cough).