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) (December 2024 鈥 )
President of the (CMSA) (December 2021 鈥 2024)
Friend of the Australian Council of Heads of Mathematical Sciences (December 2021 鈥 2024)
Chief Editor of (November 2015 鈥)
Managing Editor for the (August 2011 鈥 )
Area Editor for the (April 2014 鈥揙ctober 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)
Member of the Education Excellence Committee, Science Faculty, UNSW (March 2018 鈥撎)
Member of the Hybrid Learning and Teaching Community of Practice, UNSW (May 2023 鈥 )
Member of UNSW Student Wellbeing Community of Practice, UNSW (January 2022 鈥撎)
Academic Mentor, UNSW (2019听鈥 )
First Responder, UNSW (July 2018听鈥 )
Academic Advisor, MATH, UNSW (August 2010听鈥 )
Member of (uDASH), UNSW (August 2021 鈥 2024)
Member of the Sustainability Committee, MATH, UNSW (February 2020 鈥 2023)
Co-organiser of the 42th Australasian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing, UNSW, December 2019听(March 2018听鈥撎鼶ecember 2019)
School liaison for the UNSW MathSoc, MATH, UNSW (Jan 2012 鈥 2018)
Chair of the Publicity Committee, MATH, UNSW (July 2014 鈥撎齋eptember 2018)
Lecturer's Representative for the School Standing Committee, UNSW (June 2011 鈥 2018)
Manager of Web and Social Media, MATH, UNSW (November 2017 鈥 August 2018)
Member of the Computing Committee, MATH, UNSW (February 2018 鈥 August 2018)
Member of the Research Committee, MATH, UNSW (October 2015 鈥 July 2017)
Pure Representative on the Postgraduate Committee, MATH, UNSW (September 2013 鈥 September 2017)
Chair of the School Standing Committee, MATH, UNSW (February 2014 鈥 April 2015)
Member of the Policy and Resources Committee, MATH, UNSW (February 鈥 December 2014)
Organiser of Pure Departmental Seminar, School of Mathematics & Statistics, UNSW (Aug 2010 鈥 Jan 2013)
Co-organiser of the Joint Colloquium, School of Mathematics and Statistics, UNSW (Aug 2010 鈥 Jan 2013)
Co-organiser of the 36th Australasian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing, UNSW, December 2012 (March 2011 鈥撎鼶ecember 2012)
Member of the (August 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 Gabriel Nakhl, UNSW (secondary supervisor; primary supervisor: Chris听Goodrich), 2025鈥
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 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 Hoejlund Rasmussen, Technical University of Denmark, 2005
Honours students:
听 Paris Kastanias, UNSW, 2025鈥
听听Isaiah Ilyffe, 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
Aspects of Combinatorial Optimisation (at Kumamoto University, 2011)
Combinatorial Enumeration and Optimisation (AMSI Summer School 2012, with Prof. Ian Wanless).
MATH5505 - Combinatorics (UNSW 2016, 2018)
An Introduction to Combinatorics (Aalto University, 2017)
and听written course material for, and lectured, the courses
MATH151 - Finite Mathematics (University of Victoria, BC, Canada)
MATH1081 - Discrete Mathematics
MATH1131 - Mathematics 1A
MATH1241 - Higher Mathematics 1B
MATH3411 - Information, Codes and Ciphers
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 .