I’m a nuclear physics researcher and educator, with over 10 years experience in experimental nuclear physics, currently based in Liverpool, UK. I’m originally from Oxfordshire, where I grew up in the shadow of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. It was during my undergraduate at the University of Birmingham, doing a project on the MC40 cyclotron, that I truly got hooked on the puzzle of nuclear physics. From there I went on to a PhD at York under Charles Barton and then onto a job at JAEA in Ibaraki Japan, where I found a love of tandem accelerators, sushi and a wife. I moved on to a position at Canada’s national accelerator laboratory TRIUMF in Vancouver, and later completed my circumnavigation of the globe landing in Liverpool.

Research

In my research I aim to understand the complicated many-body interactions of the strong force through study of atomic nuclei. In particular I look at how nuclei often take deformed rugby ball or even pear shapes, rather than being simply spherical. These non-spherical shapes are only possible due to the complex interactions of the nuclear force.

I conduct gamma-ray and electron spectroscopy experiments at particle accelerator laboratories around the world. In these, I measure the small energetic particles (radiation) that are emitted by nuclei when given sufficient energy by an accelerator (or when they are naturally unstable). The specific energies and patterns of the radiation enable us to “see” inside nuclei even though they are too small to look at directly. I also lead the design and construction of novel scientific instruments to push the boundaries of achievable experiments and study exotic radioactive ion beams.

Science Communication

During the uncertainty of the COVID pandemic, I took the lead to create and chair the hugely successful, and internationally attended, Lockdown Seminar Series for the nuclear physics community. The series featured 57 high­ profile speakers from 15 countries spread over 5 continents.

I am now a member of the IOP Nuclear Physics Group Committee. As a part of the committee, I am leading the development of a new colloquium group, which will host online events aimed to be accessible to students.

During the 2020 social distancing period I participated in two of the national “I’m a Scientist” outreach events, in which scientists answer questions from school children and members of the public. I was voted the overall winner of one of these events and am currently using the prize money to construct equipment for outreach at university open days.