Profile

I’m from Manchester and my house is only a few streets away from my parents, so I get to see them a lot. Being a scientist has allowed me to experience different countries; I have worked in the UK, Australia, Japan and Switzerland, and have visited many more! I really enjoy seeing what different places are like, but I also enjoy coming home again.

I like animals, including cats and wildlife. I regulary feed the birds that visit my garden. I built a hedgehog house for the local hedgehogs to hibernate in and they have used it 3 years in a row. One of my favourite things about scuba diving in the UK is getting to see all the great wildlife that is underwater.

My favourite movie is probably Die Hard. I also like the Fast and Furious films 🏎️.

Particle accelerators have many different uses. Some are used to find new physics, for example colliders (like the LHC) smash particles together, breaking them apart, so we can search for any new particles inside. Some are used in medicine, for example proton therapy machines use particles, like protons, to treat cancer. Some are used in industry, for example particles can be used to scan for materials inside trucks at ports.

In my job, I design experiments that use particle accelerators. I am working on an experiment to bend particles from the LHC using crystals made from silicon. The particles should follow the lines made by the silicon atoms inside the crystal. By bending the crystal, the particles travelling through it should bend too! If it works, we will be able to bend the particles more sharply than ever before, allowing us to measure how they ‘wobble’ as they bend. (The technical term for this ‘wobbling’ is called spin precession).

Most days: I wake up, shower and have breakfast (crunchy nut cornflakes, orange juice and a cup of tea). I take the tram to my office and start work on my computer around 9-9.30 am. This includes emails, setting up simulations and making presentations to show my results. I have lunch with my team mates at about 12. In the afternoon, I will look at the results of my simulations and attend any team meetings. I leave work at 5.30 pm. On ‘computer days’ like this I sometimes work from home.

Some days: On ‘experiment days’ when the accelerator is running I will do an 8 or 16 hour shift, which could be at night. I ride my bike to the control room; where we have all the equipment to control the accelerator. I work with my team to run the experiment; each of us controls a different part of the machine. I usually take a packed lunch to eat when there is a quiet moment. These sorts of days can happen roughly every two months.