Research News
New grant awarded in collaboration with WMG to develop fusion shielding
Dr Jessica Marshall has been awarded £236,000, out of a possible £250,000 for a six-moth research project funded by the , marking a significant step forward in the development of Novel shielding materials and technologies for fusion shielding.
The project launched in collaboration with Dr Shubham Sharma and Professor Darren Hughes from ÌÇÐÄTV Manufacturing Group (WMG) aims to explore low-activation radiation-dense shielding solutions for practical fusion reactors.
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Professor Valery Nakariakov awarded £2.1 million from the European Research Council (ERC)
Congratulations to Professor Valery Nakariakov, from our Centre for Fusion, Space & Astrophysics who has been awarded £2.1 million from the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC AdG project aims to transformatively advance our understanding of the long-standing mystery of why the Sun's outer atmosphere - the corona - is heated to millions of degrees.
Professor Sandra Chapman awarded Johannes Geiss Fellowship
Professor Sandra Chapman has been awarded the 2023 of the
The International Space Science Institute at Bern, Switzerland is an Institute of Advanced Study where scientists from all over the world meet in a multi- and interdisciplinary setting to reach out for new scientific horizons. The main function is to contribute to the achievement of a deeper understanding of the results from different space missions, ground based observations and laboratory experiments.
Chapman's research at ISSI during the fellowship will focus on the fundamental physics of plasma turbulence with particular emphasis on recently launched missions - NASA's Parker Solar Probe and ESA'a Solar Orbiter - which will explore the sun's expanding atmosphere- the solar wind - close to the sun, to within the orbit of Mercury, for the first time. Plasma turbulence may provide the answer to one of the outstanding mysteries of the solar system, how the solar wind is heated and accelerated.
One Johannes Geiss Fellowship is awarded each year. The fellowship is named for the founder of ISSI, a distinguished space plasma physicist who pioneered interdisciplinarity.
Dr Ravindra Desai awarded two Royal Astronomical Society Awards
Congratulations to Dr Ravindra Desai who has been awarded two Royal Astronomical Society awards, the and the .
Ravindra commented "I am over the moon to receive these awards, the RAS has been a tremendous support throughout my academic journey and I look forward to engaging with them further in the future."
PhD funding in partnership with Rutherford Appleton Laboratory awarded to two academics
Dr Xianguo Lu and Dr John Back have received funding from Science Technology and Facilities Council (STFC) for two PhD studentships for 3.5 years with top up funding provided by the University. The studentships will allow the students access to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), one of Europe’s largest multidisciplinary scientific research laboratories and the UK’s national centre for experimental particle physics.
The Particle Physics Department at RAL recruit 5-11 graduates every year, and each student is registered for a degree at a partner University.
Dr Back's project is titled "Physics studies for the Muon Collider target system" and the student will study and optimise the pion-to-muon production yields and radiation dose (energy deposition rates) for the target system that is being designed for the Muon Collider, which has great potential to be a future facility for high-energy physics research. The student would spend time both at ÌÇÐÄTV and at RAL, working in partnership with Dr. Chris Densham's High Power Targets Group that is at the leading edge of target engineering, with the possibility of visits to CERN.
Dr Lu’s project is titled ‘Next-generation neutrino experiments in nuStorm’ and will evaluate and optimise the nuSTORM neutrino physics capabilities for processes in and beyond the Standard Model. The student would spend time both at ÌÇÐÄTV and at the RAL with the possibility of long-term visits to CERN and working alongside physicists in the CERN neutrino group.
The positions will start in Autumn 2023. Applications are now open, with a deadline of 2nd February.