Development Goal 1

Complete this when you have achieved your researcher development goal 1.

What was the objective you set yourself?

To gain a firm understanding of what a skyrmion is, both physically and also how it is defined topologically.

What actions did you take to achieve it?

Consult several research papers and theses on the matter, and saw my supervisor to discuss my progress.

How do you know you have achieved your goal?

I know that I have achieved my goal as I now understand what sort of materials/conditions give rise to skyrmions, and how they are defined through their topological quantum number (which turns out to just be the proportional to the emergent magnetic field which I need to play around with).

What new or existing skills have you developed as a result of achieving this objective?

I am now more capable of reading scientific literature more fluently, having followed the references cited in each paper to thoroughly understand just exactly what is going on.

How will these support your research project, studies or career?

Doing this will help me in several aspects of both my research project and studies, as referencing is an essential thing to do when composing any scientific report/thesis/dissertation/

If you were to set yourself the same objective again, what would you do differently?

Not exactly sure really, apart from be luckier with the papers I read. My understanding did largely come from just getting used to the physics pedagogy used in this area of research.