Dr Natasha Blitvic

Natasha Blitvic

Reader in Mathematical Sciences

School of Mathematical Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
www.qmul.ac.uk/maths/profiles/blitvicn.html
Centre for Complex Systems
ORCID

Research

Probability Theory, Combinatorics, Mathematical Physics, Mathematical Foundations of Microbial Ecology, Statistics for Environmental and Ocean Sciences, Applied Probability and Statistics (Engineering)

Interests

Natasha Blitvic is interested in mathematics research accross disciplinary boundaries, particularly in integrative approaches that draw strength from both theory development and close collaboration with other disciplines.

As a pure mathematician working on foundational questions in probability theory, her research seeks to characterize two classes of probabilistic phenomena: positivity — that is, ways in which probabilistic intuition carries over to unexpected settings, such as algebra or combinatorics — and universality, according to which certain probabilistic structures tend to recur in multiple, seemingly unrelated scenarios.

More recently, NB has also been working on probabilistic and statistical frameworks to describe large-scale consequences of small-scale fluctuations/interactions to bear on scaling problems of marine microbial ecology. She is interested axiomatizing and developing theoretical and experimental frameworks to understand the scaling of marine microbial interactions and describe their cumulative impacts on the marine ecosystem and ultimately the climate. In 2024-2025, NB was a Simons Foundation Pivot Fellow at ETH Zurich.

Beyond her own research, NB has a longstanding interest in how research environments
can enable and support individuals to produce creative, high-impact work, particularly when departing from traditional discipline boundaries or workflows, and incorporating diverse career paths and cognitive approaches. In 2025, she took part in the REF 2029 People, Culture and Environment Pilot. She presently serves on the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences Strategic Advisory Team and is a Strategy, People and Research Environment Expert for REF 2029.