Charles and his siblings were the first in their family to attend university. He now works in financial markets as a trader.
How did King’s Maths School help you?
“The culture encouraged us to explore maths far beyond the syllabus, supported equally by peers and teachers. It was about curiosity, not just grades.”
What does the future look like?
“I want to keep progressing in finance, applying the analytical and problem-solving skills developed in my studies and career.”
After graduating, Eito founded GatlingX, a startup developing the world’s fastest Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implementation, and has raised $2.1m in venture funding.
How did King’s Maths School help you?
“It gave me an environment where people cared about excellence. Being surrounded by brilliant peers pushed me to raise my game. At King’s, no one made fun of you for working hard — everyone was inspired to do more.”
What about Oxford?
“Oxford gave me breadth and a network. Meeting people who were exceptional in their own niche humbled and inspired me.”
Why start GatlingX?
“Companies lose billions to hacking. We build AI tools for offensive security that help organisations defend against attack. Being young makes risk-taking easier — I thought, why not now?”
Estelle combined her degree with part-time work in vertical farming technology, and is now beginning a PhD with the Turing Institute and Wellcome Trust to apply big data methods to global health challenges.
How did King’s Maths School help you?
“It let me embrace maths while not being defined by it alone. I chaired the school council and joined societies beyond maths, which gave space for many kinds of mathematicians to thrive.”
What about Edinburgh?
“My degree focused on differential equations, statistics and machine learning, with additional modules in AI ethics and sustainability. That led to work with Intelligent Growth Solutions on computer vision for sustainable farming.”
What are your ambitions?
“My PhD focuses on using big data to tackle diseases that disproportionately affect low-income countries. I’d love my work to help shift global health outcomes.”
This summer (2025), Joe worked at LIP in Braga on AI-based anomaly detection for ATLAS data. He’s currently taking a year out from his degree and applying for opportunities in AI, data science, computational physics, and related fields.
How did attending the University of Liverpool Mathematics School help you?
“It gave me the challenge I’d been looking for – I’ve never been pushed so hard. I couldn’t have achieved the results I did anywhere else, and that’s down to the help and support from my peers, friends and staff’.
“ULMaS was by far the best school I’ve ever been to: the push to learn high-level concepts has moulded how I solve problems to this day.”
“From the first day, we all felt at home. There are times when I miss the community, but I’m thankful for the experience – otherwise I would not be where I am today.”
What have you been working on recently?
“This summer, through my university, I took up a placement at the Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas (LIP) in Braga, working on an AI-based anomaly detection project using ATLAS data”.
“I got hands-on experience across the full workflow – from preprocessing and feature engineering to dimensionality reduction (PCA) and building end-to-end pipelines. I also experimented with and benchmarked models including MLPs, XGBoost and autoencoders, focusing on performance and robustness in a particle-physics setting”.
What’s next?
“My goal is to specialise in AI and data science, applying machine learning and large-dimensional data analysis to real problems. I’m taking a year out from my Physics degree and looking for opportunities in AI, data science, computational physics, or related fields – across research projects, internships, or industry collaborations.”
What advice would you give to anyone thinking of applying to a Maths School?
“Just do it – and you genuinely won’t look back. The school changed my life.”
Maksym achieved excellent results and secured a place to study Mathematics at Cambridge.
How did you come to Exeter Mathematics School?
“My host in the UK knew a teacher at Exeter, which led to a visit, an interview and an offer. It was an incredible opportunity after leaving Kharkiv.”
What stood out for you?
“The teachers were so friendly and supportive. They adjusted material to my level when I had already studied topics in Ukraine, ensuring I was always engaged and challenged. They made me a better mathematician.”
What’s next?
“I’m excited to start at Cambridge and would like to become a professional mathematician, exploring the connections between maths and physics.”
During her undergraduate studies, Nandini founded the ERA fellowship, a non-profit uniting early-career researchers from over 10 countries to address global challenges such as AI safety and governance. Since 2021 she has raised more than £2.5m in philanthropic funding to lead ERA.
How did attending King’s Maths School help you?
“King’s Maths School was one of the best times of my life intellectually. The culture set a bar for curiosity and love of learning that’s hard to match anywhere else. The mentorship I received from teachers reinforced my commitment to empowering others in turn.”
Tell us about your studies at Cambridge.
“I pursued a triple specialisation across Information and Computer Engineering, Instrumentation and Control Engineering, and Bioengineering. For my Master’s thesis, I explored how the brain could approximate Bayesian inference to recognise visual stimuli — a foundational question in computational neuroscience.”
What’s next?
“I am likely to pursue a PhD at the intersection of computational neuroscience and AI, with the aim of developing insights into reasoning and planning that can inform safer AI systems. My ambition is to contribute to society’s resilience in the face of rapid technological change.”
Theo has built a career in software engineering in the South West, working at startups including Ark and Disco, while co-authoring published research in computer vision.
How did Exeter Maths School help you?
“It gave us the chance to explore the most exciting aspects of maths and physics, even beyond the curriculum. The passion of teachers and peers inspired me to go deeper.”
What about Bristol?
“My dissertation, guided by a leading researcher, resulted in a published paper in computer vision. That gave me great insight into academia.”
What are your ambitions?
“I’ve loved working in early-stage businesses and hope to co-found a company of my own.”
After graduating in Mathematics and Physics at Manchester, Thomas is now pursuing an MPhil in Photon Physics, building on the research skills and independence he first developed at the University of Liverpool Mathematics School.
How did attending the University of Liverpool Mathematics School help you?
“I was in the first year, so everything was new. Damian, the headteacher, came to my school in Huyton to give a maths lesson – that’s how I heard about it. I went to the open day, and even though I’d never used public transport before, I knew it was something I needed to try.
It was a big step out of my comfort zone, but one I’ve never regretted. The teachers really understood how I learned – through research – and it was the first time someone had said, ‘We’ll support you as you, not just as a student doing well on paper.’”
What stood out for you?
“It felt like a small research group – everyone had their own interests, but we could all talk about our work and help each other.
We had pastoral sessions on things like taxes, how to write professional emails, and what it means to be an adult. I still remember one on how to email lecturers – it sounds small, but it’s helped me and so many others at university.
Through the Aspiring Mathematician Programme, we learned LaTeX, developed our own research projects and practised academic writing – skills I still use every day.”
What’s next?
“I’m now doing an MPhil at Manchester, looking at medical imaging. It feels a bit like being back at maths school – a close-knit group where everyone’s working on slightly different things but helping each other.
To me, maths school was like a friendly research group – everyone working on their own ideas, supporting each other, and sharing a love of maths.”
Copyright © uMaths 2026
The University Maths Schools Network (U-Maths) is a CIO registered in England and Wales (No. 1207125). Registered office: Rougemont House, Castle Street, Exeter, EX4 3PU.
