Luke Thorburn

My primary research interest is in ensuring that the algorithms used to mediate our shared epistemic systems are aligned with human values, as well as figuring out the extent to which this is important. In particular, I seek to use methods from computational social choice. Other areas of interest include: information cascades, computational argumentation, deliberative democracy and improving institutional decision-making. My background is in probability and statistics.

lukethorburn.com CV PDF @LukeThorburn_ @luke-thorburn Google Scholar

Education

  2. —

    Master of Science (with Distinction)

    The University of Melbourne

    Specialisation

    Statistics & Stochastic Processes

    Minor

    Pure Mathematics

    Supervisor

    Kostya Borovkov

    Thesis

    On integral representations of fractional Brownian motion

    Grade

    First Class Honours

    Metric and Hilbert Spaces

    Measure Theory

    Functional Analysis

    Mathematical Statistics

    Analysis of High-Dimensional Data

    Computational Statistics and Data Mining

    Advanced Mathematical Statistics

    Random Processes

    Advanced Probability

    Stochastic Calculus with Applications

    Mathematics of Risk

    AMSI Summer School (see below)

  3. —

    AMSI Summer School

    Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute

    Completed two honours-level subjects.

    Topological Data Analysis

    Probabilistic Methods & Random Graphs

  4. —

    Bachelor of Science

    The University of Melbourne

    Major

    Mathematics & Statistics

    Specialisation

    Statistics & Stochastic Processes

    Grade

    First Class Honours

    Accelerated Mathematics 1

    Accelerated Mathematics 2

    Introductory Microeconomics

    Intermediate Microeconomics

    Physics 1

    Physics 2: Advanced

    Weather and Climate Systems

    Foundations of Computing

    Foundations of Algorithms

    Database Systems

    Probability

    Probability for Inference

    Stochastic Modelling

    Statistics

    Linear Statistical Models

    Modern Applied Statistics

    Vector Calculus

    Differential Equations

    Geometry

    Complex Analysis

  5. —

    Diploma of Languages (Japanese)

    The University of Melbourne

    Japanese 5

    Japanese 6

    Japanese 7

    Japanese 8

    Japanese Through the Media

    Variation in Japanese Language

    Social Problems in Japan

    Reading Japanese Literature

  6. —

    International Baccalaureate Diploma

    St Leonard's College

    Grade

    43/45 (equivalent to notional ATAR of 99.60)

    Mathematics (HL)

    Physics (HL)

    Economics (HL)

    Literature (SL)

    Chemistry (SL)

    Japanese (SL)

    Theory of Knowledge

Teaching

  3. —

    St Leonard's College

    Student Study Assistant

    Academic tutoring and library support for students after school, on weekends and during school holidays.

  4. —

    Self-employed

    Private Academic Tutor

    Mainly in Mathematics, Physics and Economics. Students ranged from high school to university postgraduate level. Over 300 hours of tutoring experience.

Employment

  1. — Present

    Population Interventions Unit, University of Melbourne

    Data Visualisation

    Working with epidemiologist Tony Blakely to communicate modelling of SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks, vaccination, and the consequences of government lockdowns to the public via an interactive web tool.

      ABC News · Sydney Morning Herald · Pursuit

  2. — Present

    Hunt Lab for Intelligence Research, University of Melbourne

    Research Associate (Machine Learning & Statistics)

    Machine learning and other research as part of a group working to improve the quality of reasoning in intelligence organisations.

    • Built Navigator, a prototype application that uses argument mining to augment analysts’ abilities to extract insight from large document corpora.

    • Co-facilitated the collaboration of over 100 Australian academics that led to the Roadmap to Recovery report, advising the National Cabinet on strategies for COVID-19 pandemic recovery.

        The Australian · The Age · Pursuit

    • Helped run the 2020 Hunt Challenge, a study that demonstrated that crowdsourced teams can produce analysis of comparable quality to that of professional intelligence analysts.

    • Helped conduct a major Delphi method expert elicitation on the nature of analytic rigour in intelligence work, along with its contributing factors and opportunities for improvement.

    • Conducted research in accordance with open science principles, pre-registering studies (1, 2) and sharing data.

  3. — Present

    Resilient Youth Australia

    Data Scientist

    Developing novel statistical methods, reporting infrastructure and interactive graphs (in d3.js) to enable stakeholders to extract value from a perennial survey measuring resilience and mental health in Australian school students.

  4. — Present

    Future Problem Solving Program Australia

    International Evaluator & Future Scene Writer

    Evaluating written competition booklets and writing Future Scenes at state, national & international levels.

  5. —

    CSIRO Manufacturing (Biomedical)

    Research Assistant

    Used D3.js to visualise phase space in protein crystallisation. Originally 6-month appointment through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), with several stints of follow-up work.

      Biomedical Research Victoria blog

  6. —

    The University of Melbourne

    Research Assistant

    Worked with A/Prof. Tony Wirth and Dr James Saunderson in the Department of Computing and Information Systems on algorithms for the finding of densest subgraphs.

  7. —

    Mercer

    Stochastic Modelling

    Fixed-term Summer project, stochastically modelling mortalities for a new retirement income product.

Service

  1. — Present

    Buckley's Chance

    Founding Editor

    Establishing an Australia-centric online publication for clear and accessible communication of quantitative topics in the public interest.

  2. — Present

    newDemocracy Foundation

    Research & Computational Support

  3. —

    Future Problem Solving Program Australia

    Moderniser of Evaluator Resources

    Provided technical advice on the adoption/creation of an electronic evaluation platform. Previously, I rewrote the Evaluator Handbook.

  4. —

    Australian Cancer and Health Sciences Competition Inc.

    Director

  5. —

    iGEM UniMelb

    Videographer

    Produced three short videos to help explain and promote the work of the team from The University of Melbourne entering the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition.

  6. —

    St Leonard's College

    Peer Support Leader

  7. —

    St Leonard's College

    SCOPE Leader

    Mentored an overly reserved grade three student.

Awards & Honours

  1. 2021

    Rae and Edith Bennett Travelling Scholarship

    The University of Melbourne

  2. 2019

    Mathematics and Statistics School Scholarship

    The University of Melbourne

  3. 2018

    Maurice H. Belz Scholarship

    The University of Melbourne

  4. 2016

    Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Scholar

    Biomedical Research Victoria

    Leaders in Communities Award (LiCA)

    The University of Melbourne

  5. 2015

    Keith Frampton Roll of Honour (Member)

    Future Problem Solving Program Australia

    Highest Mark, Weather & Climate Systems

    The University of Melbourne

  6. 2014

    Second Place, Introductory Microeconomics Film Competition

    The University of Melbourne

  7. 2013

    Year 12 IB Dux

    St Leonard's College

    Full College, Music and House Colours

    St Leonard's College

    Old Collegian's Award for Positive Involvement

    St Leonard's College

  8. 2012

    Monash Prize for Excellence & Year 11 IB Dux

    St Leonard's College

    E. Paul Torrance Youth Award

    Future Problem Solving Program Australia

Grants & Funding

  2. —

    Transfer Learning for Argument Operations

    Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making Initiative (Phase 2)

    Sponsor

    Office of National Intelligence, Commonwealth of Australia

    Value

    $50,000

  3. —

    Augmenting Corpus Analysis through Argument Mining and Networked Notes

    Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making Initiative (Phase 1)

    Sponsor

    Office of National Intelligence, Commonwealth of Australia

    Value

    $20,000

Publications

Journal Articles

Reports

  1. The Impact of Evidence on Decision Making

    A Kruger, T van Gelder and L Thorburn

    Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, 2021.

  2. Analytic Rigour in Intelligence

    A Barnett, T Primoratz, R de Rozario, M Saletta, L Thorburn and T van Gelder (alphabetical)

    Hunt Lab for Intelligence Research, 2021.

General Press

Talks

  1. 2021

    Argument Processing

    Laboratory for Analytic Sciences, NCSU

     Slides 

Symposia

  1. COMMA 2020

    8th International Conference on Computational Models of Argument

    Online

  2. EAG

    Effective Altrusim Global

    London, UK

  3. INFORMS-APS 2019

    20th INFORMS Applied Probability Society Conference

    Brisbane, Australia

  4. Summer Institute on Topics in the History of Economics

    Center for the History of Political Economy, Duke University

    Raleigh, US

    One of 32 selected to participate in the second week.

  5. NeurIPS 2016

    Thirtieth Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems

    Barcelona, Spain