Dr Thomas Britz
Education
- PhD in Mathematics (Aarhus University, 2003)
I am part of the at the here at UNSW Sydney.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND SERVICE POSITIONS
Council Member of the (CMSA) (2024 鈥 )
President of the (CMSA) (2021 鈥 2024)
Friend of the Australian Council of Heads of Mathematical Sciences (2021 鈥 2024)
Chief Editor of (2015 鈥)
Managing Editor for the (2011 鈥 )
Area Editor for the (2014 鈥 2023)
Referee for 61 journals and 2 conference proceedings (> 175 reports)
Reviewer for Mathematical Reviews and Zentralblatt MATH (> 250 reviews)
Grant proposal assessor for ARC DP, NISDRG, FRP, Vidi (32 reports)
PhD Opponent/Assessor (2 times)
Co-organiser of the 42th Australasian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing, UNSW, December 2019听(2018听鈥 2019)
Co-organiser of the 36th Australasian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing, UNSW, December 2012 (2011 鈥 2012)
Organiser of Pure Departmental Seminar, School of Mathematics & Statistics, UNSW (2010 鈥 2013)
Co-organiser of the Joint Colloquium, School of Mathematics and Statistics, UNSW (2010 鈥 2013)
Chair of the Publicity Committee, MATH, UNSW (2014 鈥 2018)
Chair of the School Standing Committee, MATH, UNSW (2014 鈥 2015)
School liaison for the UNSW MathSoc, MATH, UNSW (2012 鈥 2018)
Manager of Web and Social Media, MATH, UNSW (2017 鈥 2018)
Academic Mentor, UNSW (2019听鈥 )
Academic Advisor, MATH, UNSW (2010听鈥 )
First Responder, UNSW (2018听鈥 )
Member of the Education Excellence Committee, Science Faculty, UNSW (2018 鈥撎)
Member of the Hybrid Learning and Teaching Community of Practice, UNSW (2023 鈥 )
Member of UNSW Student Wellbeing Community of Practice, UNSW (2022 鈥撎)
Member of UNSW Data Science Hub (uDASH), UNSW (2021 鈥 2024)
Member of the Sustainability Committee, MATH, UNSW (2020 鈥 2023)
Member of the Computing Committee, MATH, UNSW (2018 鈥 2018)
Member of the Research Committee, MATH, UNSW (2015 鈥 2017)
Pure Representative on the Postgraduate Committee, MATH, UNSW (2013 鈥 2017)
Member of the Policy and Resources Committee, MATH, UNSW (2014)
Lecturer's Representative for the School Standing Committee, UNSW (2011 鈥 2018)
Member of the (2018 鈥 )
Life member of the (CMSA)
I also enjoy a range of outreach activities, to promote mathematical thinking, learning and enjoyment.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Research Grants
$525,115 total awarded by grants, including the following:
- Discovery Grant: T. Britz, "Chromatic polynomials, random graphs, and error-correcting codes: a unified approach to graph colouring problems鈥, $242,066, 2007鈥2009
- PIMS Postdoctoral Fellowship, 20,000CAD, 2003鈥2004
- Villum Kann Rasmussen Postdoctoral Fellowship, 350.000DKK (2004鈥2005)
- Carlsberg Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, 350.000DKK, 2006
- , T. Britz,听$25,000, 2013
- UNSW Light Digital Uplift of MATH3411: $15,000, 2019.
Vice-Chancellor鈥檚 Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Wellbeing, UNSW, 2021.
Science Dean's Award for Excellence in Student Wellbeing, UNSW, 2021.
Vice-Chancellor's Award for Contributions to Student Learning, UNSW, 2015.
I am interested in most areas of discrete mathematics and combinatorics. Most of my research has been so far in graph theory, matroid theory, coding theory, combinatorial polynomials, combinatorial matrix theory, design theory, partially ordered sets, matching theory, flow theory, and enumerative combinatorics. Most of my research is highly foundational and theoretical but I also enjoy applying combinatorial methods and results to other areas, so far including big data in medicine, bioinformatics, criminology, ecology, electrochemistry, energy-storage, law, linear algebra, oceanography, psycholinguistics, quantum mechanics and renewable energy. I also very much welcome the opportunity to solve tangible real-life problems and have consulted for a variety of companies and government.
If you have any problem that might benefit from some math- or problem-solving skills, then please email me!
My Research Supervision
Supervision:
PhD students:
听 Hopein Christofen Tang, UNSW, 2023鈥
听 John Fitzgerald, UNSW (joint supervision with Lyria Bennet Moses, UNSW Law, and Ben Hachey, USyd), 2015鈥
听 Zhi Yee Chng, UNSW (joint supervision with Tan Ta Sheng and Wong Kok Bin, University of Malaya), 2024
听 Adam Mammoliti, UNSW, 2019
听 Gabriel Nakhl, UNSW (secondary supervisor; primary supervisor: Chris听Goodrich), 2025鈥
听 James Ross, UNSW (secondary supervisor; primary supervisor: Catherine Greenhill), 2023
听 Haya Saeed Aldosari, UNSW (secondary supervisor; primary supervisor: Catherine Greenhill), 2020
听 Vicki Likourezos, UNSW (secondary supervisor; primary supervisor: Slava Kalyuga, UNSW Arts), 2016-2017
听 Peter Ayre, UNSW (secondary supervisor; primary supervisor:听 Catherine Greenhill), 2019
听 Ali Hussian Alkhaldi, UNSW (secondary supervisor; primary supervisor:听 Norman Wildberger), 2014
听
Master by Research students:
听 Nero Ziyu Li, UNSW, 2021
听 Sin Keong Tong, UNSW, 2019
听 Zhi Yee Chng, UNSW, 2017
听 Maria Fischer, UNSW, 2015
听 Marie-Louise H酶jlund Rasmussen, Technical University of Denmark, 2005
Honours students:
听 Paris Kastanias, UNSW, 2025鈥
听听Ronald Chiang, UNSW, 2025鈥
听听Yasiru Jayasooriya UNSW, 2025鈥
听 Christian Albina, UNSW, 2024鈥
听 Phillip Tzioumis, UNSW, 2024
听 Hayden McLean, UNSW, 2023
听 Zhan Wei, UNSW, 2023
听 Rickey Wu, UNSW, 2023
听 Edmond Gao, UNSW, 2021
听 Ryan Snoyman, UNSW, 2020
听 David Morris, UNSW, 2020
听 Michael Libman, UNSW, 2019
听 Nelson Chen, UNSW, 2019
听 Daniel Tanios, UNSW, 2019
听 Jessica Dai, UNSW, 2018
听 Tyson Churcher, UNSW, 2016
听 Duncan Crowley, UNSW, 2016
听 Adam Mammoliti, UNSW, 2014
听 Elizabeth Alford, UNSW, 2012
Master by Coursework students:
听 Demetra Siountris, UNSW, 2020
听 Xin Hu, UNSW, 2019
听 Salha Ahmed Alshaikey, UNSW, 2012
听 Dalal Alanazi, UNSW, 2012
听 Saad Althobaiti, UNSW, 2012
听 Doug Han Yang, UNSW, 2009
听 Ali Alkhaldi,听 UNSW, 2009
听
Research Course Project:
听 Jovana Kolar, UNSW, 2021
听听Abdellah Islam, UNSW, 2020
听 Iker Carrera, UNSW, 2020
听 James Ross, UNSW, 2014
AMSI Summer Research Project:
听 Ariana Liu, UNSW, 2023
听 Jovana Kolar, UNSW, 2022
听 Tiana Tsung Ung, UNSW, 2021
Summer Research Project:
听 Ryan Yang, ANU, 2024
听 Tiana Tsung Ung, UNSW, 2020
听 Abdellah Islam, UNSW, 2020
听 Charlie Stinson, UNSW, 2019
听 Zijian Gao, UNSW, 2019
听 Rui Tong, UNSW, 2018
听 Jacky Huang, UNSW, 2018
听 Gary Liang, UNSW, 2015
听 Adam Mammoliti, UNSW, 2014
听 Steve Sui, UNSW, 2013
听 Kirsten Vo-Phuoc, UNSW, 2012
听 Sen Lin, UNSW, 2011
My Teaching
I have designed, created and lectured the HDR/Honours courses
听 Aspects of Combinatorial Optimisation (at Kumamoto University, 2011)
听 Combinatorial Enumeration and Optimisation (AMSI Summer School 2012, with Prof. Ian Wanless).
听 An Introduction to Combinatorics (Aalto University, 2017)
听 MATH5505 - Combinatorics (UNSW 2016, 2018)
and听written course material for, and lectured, the courses
听 MATH151 - Finite Mathematics (University of Victoria, BC, Canada)
听 MATH1031 - Mathematics for Life Sciences
听 MATH1081 - Discrete Mathematics
听 MATH1131 - Mathematics 1A
听 MATH1241 - Higher Mathematics 1B
听 MATH3411 - Information, Codes and Ciphers
听 MATH3521 - Algebraic Techniques in Number Theory
In total, I have lectured semester courses for 8,000 students.
I have also tutored numerous courses, for 2,000 students.
Here is quick access to some of my .