Departmental news

 A collaboration of physicists (led by Dr Marina Lafarga Magro and Yoshi Eschen) marked a milestone by holding the first ever Orbyts conferenceLink opens in a new window at the University of Warwick on 20^th of June this year.

Congratulations to Dr Rebecca Nealon (previously Astronomy and Astrophysics Group) who has recently relocated to Monash University, Melbourne and has been awarded an ARC Future Fellowship.

Dr Nealon's project titled 'Solving the mysteries of warped discs to reveal how planets are born in evolving star systems' will delve into the origins of planet formation in warped discs. Planets are born in dusty, swirling gas discs called protoplanetary discs. However, the process by which these planets are created is still poorly understood and recent observations of discs show interesting geometries like warps. Dr Nealon's project will use these warps to explain how and when planets are born.

In June, a team of enthusiastic physicists attended the annual Big Bang Fair at Birmingham's NEC, aiming to spark young students interest in science and future careers in the field.

The Big Bang Fair is the UK's biggest celebration of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for schools and runs for three days each year, with thousands of year 6, 7 and 8 students in attendance. The team from the Department of Physics were also joined by colleagues from the Department of Engineering, Department of Chemistry and Warwick Manufacturing Group from the University of Warwick.

Watch the video of the team at The Big Bang Fair.

On Saturday 5^th July, the department celebrated it’s 60^th birthday celebration with a vibrant day of reflection as one of the University’s founding departments, and looked towards a bright future for Physics at Warwick as we continue to work to make a better world together.

Congratulations to Sihui Zhong who has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society Keith Runcorn Thesis Prize 2024 for her PhD thesis titled “Decayless Kink Oscillations of Solar Coronal Loops”, completed at CFSA under the supervision of Professor Valery Nakariakov.

The Keith Runcorn Thesis Prize is awarded to the best doctoral thesis in geophysics on an annual basis.

Congratulations to all those who have formally been awarded Doctor of Philosophy in Physics:

Eva Guilloton

John Pontin

Omstavan Samant

Alex Ward

Helen Witkowska

Jacob Young

Congratulations to Ethan Moorfield who has been awarded a Master of Science (by Research) in Physics.

The Warwick Awards for Public and Community Engagement (WAPCE) recognise and celebrate the roles of Warwick staff and students connecting with the public—locally, nationally, and globally.

Congratulations to all those who have formally been awarded Doctor of Philosophy in Physics:

Jorge Fernández Fernández

Stefan Katundi

Billy Shrive

Daniel Swinnock

Congratulations to those who have been awarded a Master of Science (by Research) in Physics:

Adam Counsell

Taf Zivave

We are sorry to share the sad news that Professor Ray Dupree has passed away.
Professor Ray Dupree joined the department in September 1966, and has been a member of the solid state NMR research group for the duration of his time at Warwick and has made many contributions to the department. He will be sorely missed.
The department have shared a tribute to Ray, with a link to a condolence book for those who wish to share a message.

In April, the department were selected by the Institute of Physics to host the Conference for Undergraduate Women and Non-Binary Physicists (CUWiP)Link opens in a new window. The four-day event brought together female and non-binary undergraduate physics students from universities across the UK and Ireland. With an impressive 185 applications received, the local organising committee allocated 100 delegate spaces, ensuring a diverse and engaged cohort of participants based on a shortlisting criterion developed by the team.