David Wiltshire: a short career biography

I did my undergraduate studies (1980-1983) in physics and mathematics at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, finishing with a 1st class Honours degree and an M.Sc. (Distinction) under the supervision of Noel Doughty, in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

From there it was off to the University of Cambridge, U.K., where I completed a Ph.D. (1983-1987) on Effective models of gravity in higher dimensions, under the supervision of Gary Gibbons, in the relativity and gravitation group headed by Stephen Hawking at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. I then did stints of postdoctoral research at

and subsequently followed the head of my research group, Paul Davies, from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to join the Mathematical Physics Group at the University of Adelaide, where I worked for 10½ years in a variety of appointments: In mid July, 2001, I came full circle and returned to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Canterbury to take up a continuing appointment as Lecturer. Over the years I have been promoted up the ranks; I became a full Professor in December 2012.

I have lectured courses in Quantum Physics (2nd year), Thermodynamics (3rd year), Classical Mechanics and Symmetry Principles (3rd year), Computational Physics (4th year), Differential Geometry and General Relativity (4th year), and Cosmology (3rd and 4th year). I have also tutored 1st year Physics and 2nd year courses in Optics, Mechanics, and Mathematical Methods and Classical Fields. I have supervised 23 completed Honours research projects, 5 completed MSc theses and 9 completed PhD theses. I currently supervise 3 PhD and 1 Masters students.

I am married to Anna a Campo, whom I met at Darwin College, Cambridge, when we were both working on our doctorates. She is trained in classics and classical archaeology and her Ph.D. thesis was on Bronze Age Cyprus. We have four children: Kathlyn, Aidan, Roswyn and Merten.