About Me

I was born in Perth, Western Australia. I lived here until mid-way through highschool when I dropped out and fled home to live in Melbourne, Victoria.

While finishing my highschool cert, I found an interest in mathematical beauty. I was captivated by how mathematical thinking could offer piercing ways to understand the complexities of the world.

I self-studied mathematics, using Khan Academy, and enrolled at whatever university would accept a student with no pre-requisites, and a low graduating score, into a physics program. That happened to be the Swinburne University of Technology.

During university I thrived. It was a place where I could chase my interests with little restriction. During uni I worked across optical fibre physics, hydroacoustics, and social analytics, before realising theoretical studies is where my interests reside. Alongside this, I started to become more critical of the real world outside of physics and mathematics, and I realised there are problems with society that are far too frustrating and unfair to ignore. Complex systems was a natural path forward, where I could satisfy this frustration, contribute my abilities in physics and maths, and of course, retain proximity to the mathematical beauty that still captivates me.

Earlier in my career, as a PhD candidate at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna, I experienced and witnessed supervisor abuse. Moving quickly to a genuine academic path without cutting corners is something I’m proud of. This showed me academia’s structural flaws—how short-term junior roles stifle collective advocacy, how institutions hold power over international students, and how incentives push rushed, less rigorous work. If you’re dealing with similar challenges, my inbox (tim.book.RE(at)gmail.com) is always open. I can’t promise solutions, but I can offer perspective, solidarity, and a listening ear.

Then before this, I was a visiting scholar at GSAIS, Kyoto University (a.k.a. 思修館) studying the entropy of complex systems under the supervision of Prof. Liang Zhao. Prior to that I completed my honours degree at Swinburne University, Melbourne studying self-avoiding walk models under the supervision of Prof. Nathan Clisby.

Outside of work, I'm very into some specific subgenres of techno, philosophy, and activism.