Tom joined St John’s college Cambridge in 2005 to study mathematics. He then went on to an MPhil in Earth Sciences at the BP institute, Cambridge, under the supervision of Professor Colm Caulfield. He submitted his PhD on Microscopic Swimming in Biological Fluids in December 2012, under the supervision of Professor John Blake and Dr David Smith at the University of Birmingham. He then began a year-long postdoc with Dr Smith on elastohydrodynamic modelling, and in January 2014 he joined Dr Eric Lauga’s group in DAMTP at the University of Cambridge. In August 2016, Tom returned to the University of Birmingham where he is currently a Senior Lecturer in Mathematical Biology.