Thomas is an education economist from Melbourne working to advise state governments on how to address rising concentrations of disadvantage within the Australian school system. He graduated from Harvard University cum laude in Economics, where he served as co-President of the Australian Undergraduate Society and was awarded the Harold Bolitho Scholarship for his thesis analysing the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on learning outcomes for Australian students. Outside of study, Thomas has rowed at the elite level for the Australian U23 team and was selected to perform at Harvard’s annual music festival. With his Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship, Thomas will study a Master of Philosophy in Education, Globalisation and International Development at the University of Cambridge. In the future Thomas hopes to use the advanced research skills he will acquire through his Masters to work with think tanks and philanthropic organisations to find pragmatic evidence-based solutions to educational inequality.