Professor Rebecca Hoyle

Biography

I obtained my first degree in Mathematics and my PhD on Pattern Formation from the University of Cambridge. I spent a year as a postdoc at Northwestern University near Chicago, and then returned to Cambridge first as a Research Fellow at St. John's College and then as a Research and Teaching Fellow and Director of Studies at King's College. After a brief spell working in consulting, I joined the University of Surrey in 2000, and am now a Professor in the Maths Department.

Research Interests

I work on systems biology, biophysics, coastal morphodynamics and nonlinear dynamics more generally, particularly pattern formation. I enjoy applying maths to problems in the natural and social sciences, and among other things have modelled school league tables, simulated patterns in surface chemistry and evaluated the walking action of molecular motors.

My current research projects include:

The Creativity Observatory, an interdisciplinary research project funded by the EPSRC's Bridging the Gaps programme. It uses qualitative methods to compare the types of creativity described by a diverse group of researchers at the University of Surrey. When a pure mathematician, for example, talks about "creativity" do they mean the same thing a law professor or choreographer does? What can they learn from each other's experiences? The creativity Observatory is a collaboration between the Departments of Psychology, Maths and English and the MILES programme.

`Models and Mathematics in Life and Social Sciences (MILES)', an EPSRC-funded Bridging the Gaps programme run by the Departments of Mathematics, Computing and Sociology and the Division of Microbial Sciences to stimulate new research collaborations at the interfaces between the mathematical and physical sciences on the one hand and the life and social sciences on the other.

'Transgenerational Effects and Evolution', a cross-disciplinary EPSRC-funded collaboration between Cambridge (Zoology), UCL (Institute of Child Health), Exeter (Mathematics) and Surrey (Mathematics). The aim is to develop novel mathematical methods for modelling non-genetic transgenerational influences on life-history evolution, and to use them to explain the diversity of observed transgenerational effects.

'Evolution and Resilience of Industrial Ecosystems (ERIE)', a multidisciplinary EPSRC-funded programme, involving the departments of Sociology, Mathematics and Computing and the Centre for Environmental Strategy.

`Dynamic modelling of the switch to dormancy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis', a research fellowship funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and involving collaboration with the Division of Microbial Sciences.

I am also supervising Neville Boon's PhD on `Mathematical modelling of molecular motors', focusing particularly on models for the myosin V stepping cycle. This work is EPSRC-funded.

I am one of the founders of the  PANDA research meetings series and help to run them in conjunction with Jon Dawes (Bath), Alastair Rucklidge (Leeds) and Paul Matthews (Nottingham).

Further details can be found on my personal web page.

Research Collaborations

Current and recent collaborators include Lauren Basson (The Green House, Cape Town), Ellen Dowell (MILES, Surrey), Angela Druckman (Centre for Environmental Strategy, Surrey), Tom Ezard (Biological Sciences, Southampton), Nigel Gilbert (Sociology, Surrey), Rufus Johnstone (Zoology, Cambridge), Andrzej Kierzek (Microbial Sciences, Surrey), Paul Krause (Computing, Surrey), Bram Kuijper (Maths, Exeter), Dave Lloyd (Maths, Surrey), Vanesa Magar (Engineering, Plymouth), Johnjoe McFadden (Microbial Sciences, Surrey), Sotiris Moschoyiannis (Computing, Surrey), Matthew Peacock (Psychology, Surrey), Anne Skeldon (Maths, Surrey), Greg Tate (English, Surrey), Stuart Townley (Mathematics, Exeter), Matthew Turner (Physics, Warwick) and Jonathan Wells (UCL Institute of Child Health).

Publications

• N.J. Boon and R.B. Hoyle [2012] Exact Dynamic Properties of Molecular Motors. J. Chem. Phys. 137, 084102. Copyright (2012) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only (by clicking on the link in the title). Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The article appeared in The Journal of Chemical Physics (Vol.137, Issue 8) and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4746392
• V. Magar, M. Lefranc, R.B. Hoyle and D.E. Reeve [2012] Spectral quantification of nonlinear behaviour of the nearshore seabed and correlations with potential forcings at Duck, N.C., U.S.A. PLoS ONE 7(6): e39196. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039196
• R.B. Hoyle, D. Avitabile and A.M. Kierzek [2012] Equation-free analysis of two-component system signalling model reveals the emergence of co-existing phenotypes in the absence of multistationarity. PLoS Comput. Biol. 8(6): e1002396. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002396.
• R.B. Hoyle and T.H.G. Ezard [2012] The benefits of maternal effects in novel and in stable environments. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, doi:10.1098/rsif.2012.0183.
• R.B. Hoyle [2006] Pattern formation: an introduction to methods (Textbook: 422 pp.)

A full list of publications, conference presentations, and patents can be found here.

Teaching

I am not teaching in the current academic year.

Departmental Duties

Convenor of the Modelling, Numerics and Applications research group.