One of the defining highlights of his degree so far has been receiving the prestigious New Colombo Plan Scholarship, which enabled him to undertake a research exchange at Nanyang Technological University. During his time in Singapore, Kieran conducted independent research under the supervision of a university professor, investigating the theoretical limits of monitoring latent mechanisms and uncertainty quantification in neural state-space models. The experience of engaging directly with open mathematical problems and deriving results from first principles reinforced his passion for mathematical discovery and research.
While on exchange, Kieran also travelled to Thailand to compete in an MIT Hacking Medicine Hackathon, where he was one of only three participants across the entire competition awarded a Golden Ticket. A fully sponsored invitation to compete at the MIT Hacking Medicine GrandHack MIT Media Lab. There, his team developed a system for early neonatal sepsis detection in newborns — a condition that is notoriously difficult to catch before it becomes life-threatening, particularly in under-resourced clinical settings.
“Being flown out to compete against teams from MIT, Harvard, and postgraduate researchers from around the world, and then winning our track, was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It reminded me that the tools of mathematics and engineering, applied creatively, can make a real difference in people's lives."
Building on these research and innovation experiences, Kieran has also gained industry exposure through an internship at Boeing Defence Australia, working on avionics and signal processing systems for critical Australian defence programs, including radar processing, target tracking, and complex electrical engineering projects.
Looking ahead, Kieran will begin a Quantitative Research Internship at Optiver in Sydney and continues to pursue competition mathematics, further developing his problem-solving and mathematical thinking.
Kieran attributes much of his development to his time at QASMT. He describes QASMT as an environment that consistently challenged and inspired him, surrounding him with driven and curious peers and teachers who encouraged ideas seriously. It was at QASMT that he first became involved in mathematics olympiads, competing at a national level and discovering a love for the deep and creative problem-solving that competition mathematics demands.
“QASMT also opened doors I couldn't have anticipated — it was through the school that I had the privilege of being mentored by UQ Professor Ole Warnaar and Dr Anna Puskas for my IB Extended Essay research in complex analysis, an experience that gave me my first real taste of what mathematical research looks and feels like."
More broadly, Kieran believes the IB programme taught him to think carefully across disciplines, reflect critically on ideas, and avoid superficial understanding — habits of mind that continue to shape the way he approaches both mathematics and engineering today.