Joseph Thacker joined the group in January 2021 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, focusing on the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning for optimisation problems.

 

Joseph obtained a First Class BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Manchester in 2014. He then completed his Ph.D in 2018 in Manchester's Quantum Chemical Topology group. During his Ph.D, Joseph's two main research interests were: the development of force-field potentials using machine learning and the automated analysis of potential energy surfaces.

 

In 2018, Joseph started work at the Hartree Centre (Daresbury Laboratory, STFC) as a Computational Scientist (later promoted to Senior Research Scientist), where he worked on a number of industry-focussed research projects. During this time, Joseph's work was in three primary areas: Bayesian Optimisation, Natural Language Processing and Dissipative Particle Dynamics.