Autonomous Vehicle Technical Advisor
2020 - 2024
Team Principal
2018 - 2020
Deputy Team Principal
2017 - 2018
Electronics & Software Engineer
2015 - 2018
I’m a research scientist specialising in neuromorphic and optical computing with a strong foundation in physics, computer science, optimisation and machine learning. I am interested in designing new systems for efficient, scalable computation, and better understanding learning, intelligence and consciousness in biological and artificial systems. My current research centres on developing new methods for measuring and recovering brain activity, for applications in healthcare and human augmentation.
Professional Experience
University of Glasgow - Postdoctoral Research Associate in Neurophotonics
2024 - Present
European Space Agency - Fly Your Thesis
2021
University of Glasgow - Graduate Teaching Assistant
2020 - 2023
MBDA UK - Guidance, Control & Navigation Intern
2018
UGRacing Formula Student (FSAE) Team
2015 - 2024
Education
PhD Physics - Optimisation of Optical Neuromorphic Computing Systems
2020 - 2024
MSci Physics
2015 - 2020
Masters Thesis - MHD Analysis of Field-Aligned Plasma Flow
2020
Further Academic Activities
Machine Learning in Science - Committee
2021 - Present
Software Upskilling for Researchers - Committee
2024 - Present
Scholarships, Awards & Funding
Award
SPIE Machine Learning in Photonics - Best student paper award
2024
Scolarship
Peter MacGuire Bequest (£2k)
2023
Scolarship
Dynamics Days Europe Bursary (£300)
2022
Award
Dougall Prize: Most distinguished students in Mathematics
2017
Poster Presentations, Talks, Outreach
Invited Talk
Quantum Reservoir Computing Working Party - Photon Number-Resolved Quantum Reservoir Computing
2024
Talk
SPIE Photonics Europe - Optical neural networks trained in situ with reinforcement learning.
2024
Talk
3 Minute Thesis - Shedding Light on Machine Learning.
2021
Selected Skills
Programming
Python, C++, CUDA, Mathematica, MATLAB, Rust, JS
Technologies
Git, Linux, JAX, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Numpy, Scipy, Keras, Deepmind ML ecosystem, Docker, ROS2, HTML, CSS, OpenCV, LaTeX, Blender
Electronics
PCB design & manufacture, embedded systems programming, ARM microprocessors
Open Source Contributions
Statax: Effortless threading of state through functionally pure JAX code
2023
Publications
- Neill, O., Nerenberg, S., Marcucci, G. and Faccio, D., “Quantum reservoir computing with linear photonic networks” Quantum Computing, Communication, and Simulation V, PC133910O, SPIE. (2025), 10.1117/12.3037751
- Neill, O., “Optimisation of optical neuromorphic computing systems” (2024), 10.5525/gla.thesis.84943
- Neill, O. and Faccio, D., “Optical neural networks trained in situ with reinforcement learning” Machine Learning in Photonics, 13017, SPIE. (2024), 10.1117/12.3021870
- Nerenberg*, S., Neill*, O., Marcucci, G. and Faccio, D., “Photon Number-Resolving Quantum Reservoir Computing”, arXiv preprint, (2024), arXiv:2402.06339
- Neill, O. and Faccio, D., “Gradient-Free Optimisation of Photonic Neural Networks”. International Conference on Neuromorphic, Natural and Physical Computing, (2023)