1. Curriculum Vitae
Personal
Name: Peter Thompson
Address: 33 West Oakhill Park, Liverpool, L13 4BN
Telephone: 07804 421174
Date of Birth: 26th
November 1990
Email: peter.james.thompson.uk@gmail.com
Profile
I am currently a postgraduate at the University of Manchester studying towards an MSc in Advanced
Computer Science. I studied Physics as an undergraduate and this gave me a broad appreciation of
many aspects of mathematics, statistical analysis and the scientific method. After graduating in the
summer of 2013, I enrolled on a Master's program in computer science. Entry onto the course
required that I complete a foundation year in order to show that I had the necessary baseline skills.
Having completed the foundation year, I began the course proper in September 2014. For the taught
part of the course I chose modules on machine learning, parallel programming and architecture, text
mining and computer vision. For the research part of the course, I will complete a thesis project
relating to machine learning.
Skills
• Mathematics, data analysis, problem solving
• Programming in C++, Java, several interpreted languages, C, Fortran
• Object-oriented programming, functional programming, scripting
• Parallel programming (OpenMP, MPI, Java), scientific computing, HPC
• Linux/Unix
Education
2002-2009: Blue Coat School, Liverpool:
GCSEs:
Biology – A, Chemistry – A, English – A*, English Literature – A, French –
A*, Geography – A*, History – A, ICT – A, Mathematics – A*, Physics – A
A-Levels:
Physics – A, Chemistry – A, Further Mathematics – AB
2009-2013: University of Manchester, School of Physics and Astronomy:
MPhys Physics with Theoretical Physics – Lower Second Class Honours (average score
equivalent to 2:1 in final year)
2014-2015: University of Manchester, School of Computer Science:
MSc Advanced Computer Science – Pending

2. Experience
10th
February - 21st
March 2014: In early 2014, I spent six weeks at Red Ninja Studios, a small
software studio in central Liverpool, learning basic iOS development. This included most of the
common GUI elements (table views, image views, map views, etc.) as well as more advanced aspects
of iOS development, such as persistence and core data. From this experience, I gained a deeper
understanding of commercial software development and learned several new skills in a short period of
time, since I had previously used neither XCode, the IDE used for developing iOS apps, nor
objective-C, the main supported language.
30th
June – 30th
August 2013: In July and August 2013 I took part in PRACE’s Summer of HPC
programme. The programme, for which 24 undergraduate and postgraduate students from
institutions across Europe were selected, started with a week of training at EPCC in Edinburgh. The
training included courses in the parallel computing protocols openMP and MPI and in advanced
visualisation techniques. After training, I began an eight week project at CINECA in Bologna, the
goal of which was to visualise the results of a simulation of the formation of turbulence in the solar
wind plasma. The simulation was the first to investigate the phenomenon using the full six
dimensional (3D-3V) phase space configuration. The aim of the project was to develop methods of
visualising large amounts of data that was initially stored in CSV format on a remote server. This
involved a large amount of programming, mainly in Python, and continuous interaction with the
researcher who performed the simulation as we discussed which kinds of visualisation best represented
the interesting features of the data. At the end of the project, we produced a short video containing
several animations showing physical quantities from the simulation and explaining the physics behind
the project, details of the simulation and the steps that were taken to visualise the results. I also
prepared, jointly with my partner on the project, a popular science style article to be included in a
digest containing contributions from all of the participants in the Summer of HPC program.
Positions of Responsibility
In the final year of my undergraduate degree at the University of Manchester, I was a student
representative for Hornet, the publicly owned company that provides web access to university halls of
residence. This involved communicating with students who were having trouble with their internet
connections and diagnosing and solving problems with their computer operating systems and the
cabling.
Interests
Music is one of my major interests. I play guitar, bass and drums and have a strong interest in home
recording. I am also interested in poetry, having won the University of Manchester’s 2011/12 EPS
Science Poetry competition. I was subsequently interviewed about the poem live on BBC local
radio.
Referee's available on request.