Research Interests

I am currently a neutrino physicist by trade, having taken part in most of the accelerator based neutrino experiments in the last 10 years. I am interested in the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations, which may tell us why there is more matter in the universe than antimatter, as well as trying to measure neutrino interactions more accurately than they are currently known. The projects that I am working on presently are:

The T2K experiment which is operating at the JPARC neutrino facility in Japan. This experiment generates a neutrino beam at Tokai on the East Coast of Japan, and points it at the Super-Kamiokande detector in the Western Mountains of Japan, 250 km away. It's aims are to make precision measurements of neutrino flavour oscillations - the phenomenon where one neutrino type changes into another during flight. This process will help us understand more about the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe.

Hyper-Kamiokande is one of the two next-generation neutrino oscillation experiments that Warwick are involved An up grade of T2K, Hyper-Kamiokande will use a new, high-power neutrino beam and a new far detector that will be about 8 times larger in volume to the Super-Kamiokande detector. is the Japanese equivalent. Hyper-K is now an approved experiment with construction starting in 2022 and first data coming in in 2025-2026.

Teaching

I currently teach two courses on particle physics: a first year introductory course called PX147-An Introduction to Particle Physics, and a more detailed third year course: PX395-The Standard Model. In previous years I have taught a course to fourth year physics students : PX435 - Neutrino Physics, a second year course on electromagnetism, PX263 - Electromagnetic Theory, an advanced particle physics course for the final year - PX434 - The Standard Model and PX110 - the First year Laboratory. I am passionate about enthusastic teaching, as it is in these courses that a professional physicist can best transmit their enthusiasm about the subject to the next generation.

I also organise and teach a set of graduate lectures for first postgraduate students. Warwick Week, as it is known, is a week-long summer school in experimental physics for career-beginning particle physicists. I present a short neutrino course in this school, as well as providing the organisation.