Ben Farmer Email & Phone Number

Melbourne, Vic, Au

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

I have been a Senior Research Scientist/Scientific Software Engineer at Acacia Systems since late 2023. My primary area of research has been passive sonar track-to-track fusion. Acacia Systems has long been a provider of tracking software for the Australian Defence Force and other government agencies, but has more recently begun developing automatic fusion algorithms aimed at providing fused track solutions for fleets of autonomous/unmanned ocean surface vehicles. My R&D activities for the company have been centred on reviewing the state-of-the-art in the academic literature, making algorithmic recommendations, developing working prototypes in the R&D software stack, transitioning prototypes into the production codebase, planning for future improvements, assessing algorithm performance, and identifying issues requiring research attention.

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

I was a Scientific Software Engineer/Data Scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) from 2020 to 2023, assigned primarily to the eReefs project. eReefs is a multi-agency project (partners including the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, BoM, CSIRO, and AIMS) aimed at improving the monitoring and management of the Great Barrier Reef via scientific modelling of coastal runoff and the marine environment. BoM are providing landscape-water modelling of the reef catchment areas, and statistical modelling of nutrient loads in coastal runoff. I was the lead developer for the operationalisation of this modelling, responsible for leading the planning, design, and development of all components of the operational system (Python-based with Fortran modelling components, deployed on AWS cloud). I also led new R&D of the water quality model due to my research background in statistical analysis and modelling.

London, United Kingdom

Independent research fellowship in the Astrophysics group, funded by grant awarded by the European Commission H2020 programResponsibilities:Conduct independent scientific research, i.e. solve high-level scientific research problemsGenerate new research questions and projectsLearn new mathematical, statistical, and computational techniques rapidly, by reading academic literature and other availiable material, in order to solve research problemsManage research students and their projectsProject manage small teams of scientific software developers and data analystsDigitally collaborate with researchers from around the world on shared research projectsDevelop scientific software - Written in C++/Python/Fortran/Mathematica - For Linux/POSIX systems and high-performance computing systems - Builds managed with Make/CMake - Code managed with git, internationally distributed team of ~40Conduct statistical analysis of experimental results in high-energy physics and astrophysicsAnalyse output of scientific software and generate research insightsProduce international publication quality scientific data visualisationsWrite international publication quality scientific documents/reportsPrepare scientific results for presentation at international conferencesPresent scientific results for expert and non-expert audiencesOrganise and chair team meetings/videoconferencesOrganise in-person international collaboration meetingsPrepare and present pedagogical material for training of doctorate students and other academic staff (assorted topics in physics/astrophysics/statistics)Write scientific research grant proposals for assessment by national grant commitees, to obtains funds for future research

Stockholm, Sweden

Postdoc in the Dark Matter Direct Detection groupResponsibilitiesConduct independent scientific research, i.e. solve high-level scientific research problemsGenerate new research questions and projectsLearn new mathematical, statistical, and computational techniques rapidly, by reading academic literature and other available material, in order to solve research problemsProject manage small teams of scientific software developers and data analystsDigitally collaborate with researchers from around the world on shared research projectsDevelop scientific software - Written in C++/Python/Fortran/Mathematica - For Linux/POSIX systems and high-performance computing systems - Builds managed with Make/CMake - Code managed with git, internationally distributed team of ~40Conduct statistical analysis of experimental results in high-energy physics and astrophysicsAnalyse output of scientific software and generate research insightsProduce international publication quality scientific data visualisationsWrite international publication quality scientific documents/reportsPrepare scientific results for presentation at international conferencesPresent scientific results for expert and non-expert audiencesOrganise and chair team meetings/videoconferencesOrganise in-person international collaboration meetingsTeach Masters-level coursework (Bayesian and classical statistics)Prepare and present pedagogical material for training of doctorate students and other academic staff (assorted topics in physics/astrophysics/statistics)Write scientific research grant proposals for assessment by national grant commitees, to obtains funds for future research

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Physics

Bachelor’S Degree, Physics