Chris Woodgate, a HetSys Cohort 1 student, has been selected as the recipient of this year's Winton Capital Thesis Prize for Physics

The HetSys community are delighted that Chris Woodgate, a cohort 1 HetSys student, has been awarded the 2023 Winton Thesis Prize in Physics by the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick.

This annual award is given by the department to recognise an outstanding PhD thesis examined in the preceding calendar year. Chris was a member of the first Cohort of HetSys students to complete their theses with cohort 2 due to submit later this year. His thesis is entitled ‘Atomic Arrangements in Multicomponent Alloys: First-Principles Theory, Atomistic Modelling, and Implications for Magnetic Properties’ and was supervised by Julie Staunton. Chris is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in Julie’s group in Physics, expanding upon the programme of work carried out in his PhD and collaborative with the research group of Laura Lewis’ at Northeastern University in Boston, USA.

The HetSys CDT is currently recruiting it’s sixth cohort after receiving £11 million in funding to continue to train PhD students in Computational Modelling. HetSys recruits students from across physical sciences, mathematics and engineering who enjoy using their mathematical skills and thinking flexibly to solve complex problems. By developing these skills HetSys trains people to challenge current state-of-the-art in computational modelling of heterogeneous, ‘real world’ systems across a range of research themes such as nanoscale devices, new catalysts, superalloys, smart fluids, space plasmas etc. Built around a closely knit, highly collaborative team of academics from across the science faculty departments at Warwick it develops talented, energetic PhD students to push boundaries in this exciting field.

Chris (right) is pictured with Mark Newton, Head of Department - Physics