Simon Wood

Simon Wood

Mathematician and physicist with an interest in all that connects these two fields.

Supervision

Prospective PhD students

If you are interested in doing a PhD with me, please email me before applying. This lets us discuss whether a project with me suits you and which funding route fits your situation. Please do not apply through the Cardiff PhD portal naming me as supervisor without contacting me first. I do not currently have any funded open positions (as of October 2026). When I do, they are advertised on FindAPhD, but even then, please email me first rather than applying directly.

When you write, include a brief description of your research interests, any past relevant experience and why you are interested in working with me specifically. Due to the large volume of emails I receive, I will only respond to emails which follow these instructions.

PhD projects supervised by me will usually be on some mixture of vertex algebras, conformal field theory and tensor categories. A strong background in algebra (Lie algebras, representation theory) and some mathematical physics is ideal. Good books to get a feel for these topics include:

I am a member of the Geometry, Algebra, Mathematical Physics and Topology (GAPT) Research Group where we offer a lively community, and organise many seminars and conferences.

Postdoctoral fellowships

Postdoctoral researchers interested in applying for fellowships (e.g. EPSRC, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Royal Society, Leverhulme) to work with me are also welcome to get in touch. Please contact me at least three months before the relevant deadline, so we have time to prepare a strong application together. As a Humboldt alumnus, I can also host Feodor Lynen Research Fellowships for researchers from Germany (German citizens, or researchers currently working in Germany who plan to return there).

Summer projects for Cardiff students

Students enrolled at Cardiff University can do summer projects with me. If you are interested in one, let me know early because proposals usually need to be submitted in January for the following summer. Projects also need to be advertised to the entire university and awarded competitively.

Current and former group members

Postdocs

  • 2023 - 2025, Roman Gonin

PhD students

Masters and project students

  • 2025 - 2026, Thomas, Watson, Symmetric Functions, (MMath, Cardiff). Went on to master’s at the University of Oxford.
  • 2023 - 2024, Jack Brown, Symmetric Functions, (MMath, Cardiff)
  • 2021 - 2022, Daniel Townley-Keogh, Galois Theory and its Applications to Classifying Modular Invariants, (MMath, Cardiff)
  • 2020 - 2021, Ieuan Fishlock, Representations of finite groups, (MMath, Cardiff)
  • 2019 - 2020, Owen Tanner, Kazdan-Lusztig Equations, (MMath, Cardiff). Went on to PhD at the University of Glasgow.
  • 2018 - 2019, Tudur Lewis, Coxeter Groups, (MMath, Cardiff). Went on to PhD at the University of Glasgow.
  • 2017 - 2018, Anna Clancy, Symmetric Polynomials, (MMath, Cardiff). Went on to PhD at the University of Glasgow.
  • 2015 - 2016, John Snadden, Modular properties of the affine superalgebra \(\mathfrak{osp}(1\vert 2)\), (MPhil project, ANU) joint with David Ridout, which led to the paper An admissible level \(\widehat{\mathfrak{osp}}(1\vert 2)\)-model: modular transformations and the Verlinde formula. Went on to a PhD at Northwestern University.
  • 2015, Matthew Geleta, The Coulomb gas formalism, (Honours student, ANU) joint with David Ridout. Went on to a master’s at the University of Oxford and then a PhD at the University of Cambridge.