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  • PhD Research Students

PhD Research Students

School of Mathematics and Physics
PHD PROFILES

The School of Mathematics and Physics have a large and diverse PhD student body who contribute enormously to the vibrant research culture of the school. To view the profiles of our students, please click on the links below.

Research Centres

Armagh Observatory & Planetarium

Astrophysics Research Centre

Atomistic Simulation Centre

Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Photonic Integration and Advanced Data Storage

Centre for Plasma Physics

Centre for Nanostructured Media 

Centre for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics

Mathematical Science Research Centre

 

Armagh Observatory & Planetarium

 

 Name of StudentPhD Research Theme or PhD Thesis TitlePrincipal SupervisorSecondary Supervisor
Pablo Galán de Anta The Fragility of Nuclear and kpc-scale Galactic Discs against Mergers  Dr Marc Sarzi Dr Massimo Dotti (University Milano-Bicocca),
Dr Lorenzo Posti (University of Groningen) 
Kerem Osman Çubu

CO Mapping the Southern Galactic Plane

Prof Michael G. Burton Dr Marc Sarzi
Jeremy Rigney

Stellar Flare Observations with the International LOFAR Telescope

Prof. Peter Gallagher (DIAS) and Prof. Gerry Doyle (Armagh), Prof. Michail Mathioudakis (QUB)

 
Dr. Eoin Carley (DIAS) and Dr. Gavin Ramsay Armagh) 

 

Astrophysics Research Centre

 

Name of StudentPhD Research Theme or PhD Thesis TitlePrincipal SupervisorSecondary Supervisor

Laura Buchanan

Exploring the Relics of Planet Formation: The Kuiper Belt Colour/Composition Connection

Dr Megan Schwamb

Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons
Fionntán Callan Supernovae: Theoretical Modelling of Light Curves and Spectra

Dr Stuart Sim

 
Ryan Campell Small-scale transverse magnetic fields in the quiet internetwork solar photosphere Professor Mihalis Mathioudakis  
Christopher Dillion Solar Physics with Biomedical Applications: Revealing the hidden science of the Sun Dr David Jess  
Matthew Dobson From the Centaurs to the Inner Oort Cloud: Exploring the Kuiper Belt Connection Dr Megan Schwamb  
Caitlin Gilchrist-Millar  The Atmospheric Response to Oscillations Within Solar Magnetic Pores Dr David Jess    
Jarod Gouldie Relativistic Dirac R-matrix photoionisation calculations through to their implementation with stellar opacity
codes
Dr Connor Balance Dr Stuart Sim
David Jackson

Terra Hunting-Extreme Precision Mass-Measurements of Earth-like Worlds

Dr. Christopher Watson   Dr Ernst de Mooij
Dominik Kiersz

Spectroscopic Observations of Near-Earth Asteroids in Support of Hera and DART Missions

Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons  
Conor MacBride 

Energy Dissipation in Solar Physics

Dr David Jess    Prof. Mihalis Mathioudakis  
Matthew McCollum Fast optical transients in wide-field surveys: giant flares and extragalactic searches Prof. Stephen Smartt Dr. Christopher Watson  
Shaun McLaughlin

Multi-Wavelength Observations of Solar Flares

Dr Ryan Milligan  
Stephanie Merritt

Characterising exoplanet atmospheres using high-resolution spectroscopy

Dr. Neale Gibson (TCD) Dr. Christopher Watson
Aaron Monson

Photospheric Flare Diagnostics

Prof. Mihalis Mathioudakis     Dr Ryan Milligan
Sean Quinn

The Search for Upper Atmospheric Responses to Sunquakes

Prof. Mihalis Mathioudakis     
James Edward Robinson

The Origin and Evolution of Transneptunian Binaries

Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons   Dr Stuart Sim 
Richard Smith  Binary Transneptunian Objects in the Hubble Space Telescope Archive  Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons   Dr Wesley Fraser
Jamie Wilson 

Observations of Exoplanet Atmospheres

Dr Neale Gibson Dr. Christopher Watson  

 

Atomistic Simulation Centre

 

Name of StudentPhD Research Theme or PhD Thesis TitlePrincipal SupervisorSecondary Supervisor
Christopher McCooey Electron and Nuclei in Nanowires Dr. Tchavdar Todorov Dr. Daniel Dundas
Javier Fernández Troncoso

Thermal conductivity of PbTe from computer simulation

Prof. Jorge Kohanoff

Dr. Myrta Gruening

Dr. Tchavdar Todorov

Sam Shepherd

Machine Learning for Aqueous Interfaces

Dr. David Wilkins

Dr. Gareth Tribello

Orla Surgeoner

Quantum Interactions in Nanostructures

Dr. Tchavdar Todorov  Dr. Myrta Gruening 

 

Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT)

Name of Student

PhD Research Theme or PhD Thesis Title

University of Glasgow Supervisor

Queen's University Belfast Supervisor

Mahmoud Ahtaiba Integrated quantum photonic sensors and circuits Prof Robert Hadfield Dr Amit Kumar

Ali Al-Moathin

Hybrid Integrated Silicon Photonic Transceiver 

Prof John Marsh, Dr. Lianping Hou, Dr. Hadi Heidari Dr. Bob Pollard

Mugahid Ali

 

Plasmonic Antennas for Extreme Light Concentration and Harvesting

 
Prof Marc Sorel Dr Fumin Huang
Sia Andersson Hybrid optical components for advanced quantum systems  Prof John Marsh  Prof Robert Bowman

Ahmad Azizan

     

Nathan Black

Nanoscale Photo-conductivity in Ferroelectrics
 
Dr Amit Kumar 

Jack Brennan

Plasmonic properties of silver fractal nanostructures 

Dr. Donald Maclaren Dr Fumin Huang
Anna Casey Measuring THz radiation            Dr. Matteo Clerici  

Matt Colbear

Spintronic Behaviour in Conducting Domain Walls

 
Dr. Ian Maclaren Prof Marty Gregg
Lauren Connell 

Reprogrammable Micromagnetic Transport

 
Prof Marc Sorel
 
Dr. Solveig Felton

Alison Cowan

Exploring the Role of Magnetostriction in Permalloy Multilayers using Transmission Electron Microscopy

Prof Stephen McVitie Prof Robert Bowman 
Emma Crothers      

Ryan Duddy

Ab Initio Design of Plasmonic Materials

  Dr. Lorenzo Stella , Dr. Myrta Grūning
John Fullerton Ultra-Advanced Characterisation Studies of Three-Dimensional Spintronic Nanocircuits  Dr. Amalio Fernandez-Pacheco

Dr. Miryam Arredondo-Arechavala

 
Hristo Gergov 

Exploring 3D Nanopatterned Structures Fabricated by Plasma FIB

Prof Stephen McVitie  Dr. Solveig Felton 
Christopher Gough

Heterogeneous integration of III-V lasers to optical waveguides

Prof Marc Sorel   Prof Robert Bowman 

Robert Graham

Novel Nanophotonic Devices: From Concepts to Applications

Prof Robert Hadfield  

Steffan Gwyn

GaN blue lasers for photonic integration

Prof Anthony Kelly Prof Robert Bowman 

Mehdi Haji Ebrahim

Measuring photon pairs           Dr. Matteo Clerici    

Sean Hiddleston

Molecule Based Magnets

  Dr. Solveig Felton 

Ross Louis Jordan

Thermal Behaviour of Nanostructured Magnetic Materials

Prof Stephen McVitie  Dr. Solveig Felton 

Rebecca Kelly

Characterisation of integrated photonic chips   Prof Marc Sorel    

Ben King

Quantum Dot Photonic Crystal Surface Emitting Laser

Prof Richard Hogg, Dr. David Childs Dr. Bob Pollard

Colin Kirkbride 

     
Christopher Lambert

High thermal stability plasmonic materials – beyond noble metals – for HAMR antennae

Dr. Donald Maclaren Prof Robert Bowman 
Will Lee      

Arthur Lipinski

Novel Materials Synthesis for HAMR Plasmonics

Prof Robert Hadfield Prof Robert Bowman
Hugh Littlehailes Intermetallic plasmonic antennas Dr. Donald Maclaren Dr Fumin Huang

Josua Lo

Development of 25Gbit/s distributed feedback (DFB) laser devices  Prof Anthony Kelly Prof Marty Gregg 

Pierre Maidment 

Development of a multispectral laser scanner in silicon photonics

Prof Marc Sorel Dr Amit Kumar  

James McCartan

Making and characterising atomic scale 1D P-N junctions for nanoscale logic gates  Dr. Ian Maclaren   Prof Marty Gregg 

Shane McCartan

Structure and Ferroic Ordering at Conducting Domain Walls

Prof Marc Sorel   

Tiernan McCaughery

Integration of Novel Materials for Improved HAMR 3.0 ADC and Reliability

Marcus Mooney, Seagate  Prof Robert Bowman 

Cameron McEleney

     

Simon Munro

Advanced epitaxial solutions for compound semiconductor component integration  Prof Marc Sorel  Prof Robert Bowman 

Anthony Murphy

Advanced materials for photonic integration  Prof Marc Sorel   Prof Robert Bowman 

Daniel Murphy

Bringing Ab-Initio Design Into the Lab: Temperature Dependence of Plasmonic Response 

  Dr. Lorenzo Stella , Dr. Myrta Grūning 
Thomas O'Connor  Boron containing alloys of III-Nitride semiconductors for Ultraviolet emission 

Prof Peter Parbrook,

Dr. Stefan Schulz Tyndall National Institute, UCC

 

Tamsin O’Reilly 

Exploring domain cross-talk and cycling effects in polycrystalline ferroics

Dr. Damien McGrouther Dr. Miryam Arredondo-Arechavala 
Nicola Parry      
Serene Pauly      

Antoine Pissis

High power single mode Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL)  Prof Richard Hogg, Dr. Evgeny Zibik Zürich   
Peter Read Next Generation Laser Development  Prof Anthony Kelly  

Stewart Reid

     

Frederic Rendell-Bhatti

Manipulation and Exploitation of the Dynamic Processes of Skyrmions

Dr. Damien McGrouther,Prof Stephen McVitie  

Sarah Ruddell

Novel Materials Synthesis for HAMR Plasmonics

Prof Robert Hadfield  Prof Robert Bowman 

Michael Sloan

Integrated Photonic Devices for Smart Gas Sensors

Prof Marc Sorel     

Ben Smith

The effect high temperatures have on plasmonic functionality  Dr. Donald Maclaren  
Nicholas Stephen
 

Investigating GaAs metamorphic lasers

Dr Emanuule Pelucchi Tyndall National Institute, UCC Dr Miryam Arredondo-Arechavala

Liam Wright

Mapping Plasmonic Excitations of Patterned TiN Nano-elements in the Scanning-transmission Electron Microscope

Dr. Donald Maclaren  Prof Robert Bowman 

 

 

 

Centre for Plasma Physics

 

 Name of StudentPhD Research Theme or PhD Thesis TitlePrincipal SupervisorSecondary Supervisor
Musharei Abdullal A Alanazi

Particles produced plasma

Prof. Marco Borghesi

 
Suhail Albakheet

Studies in sub-lethal effects of highly pulsed ion beams

Prof. Marco Borghesi

 
 
Asmaa Mohammad S Ali

Respiratory Motion Management during radiation therapy

Dr Jason Greenwood

Dr Allen Hounsell

Dr Conor McGarry

 
Matthew Charlwood

Photo-ionised Plasmas in the Laboratory

Prof. David Riley

Dr. Gianluca Sarri

 

Conor Fagan

Proton Radiography Investigations of Laser-Plasma Interaction Dynamics in High-Intensity Regimes

Prof. Marco Borghesi

Dr. Satyabrata Kar

Dr. Colin Brown (AWE)

Colm Fitzpatrick

Applications of High Harmonics Generated from Intense Laser-Plasma Interactions

Dr Brendan Dromey   Dr Mark Yeung  
Benjamin Greenwood

Compact, laser-driven ion beamlines for interdisciplinary applications

Dr. Satyabrata Kar

Prof. Marco Borghesi

 
Fayza Adel Hanafy Hassan

Spectroscopic investigation of cold technological plasmas

Dr. Thomas Field   Prof. David Riley
Chloe Ho

Compact, high brightness neutron beamline using intense lasers

Dr. Satyabrata Kar  Prof. Marco Borghesi, Dr. Rob Clarke(CLF)
Cormac Hyland XUV Probing of Warm Dense Aluminium  Prof. David Riley

Prof. Marco Borghesi

 
Jonathan Kennedy Ultrabright Sources of Attosecond Pulses Dr Mark Yeung

Dr Brendan Dromey

Brendan Loughran

Laboratory Astrophysics using High Repetition Rate Lasers

Dr. Charlotte Palmer

 
Sinéad A. Mannion

Validation of Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Jets using Finite Element Analysis

Dr. Thomas Field  Prof. David Riley
Conor McAnespie

The applications of laser-driven particle accelerators for ultra-high dose-rate radiotherapy

Dr. Gianluca Sarri  Dr Stephen McMahon
Sean McCallum

Calorimetry techniques for absolute dosimetry of laser-driven ion beams

Prof. Marco Borghesi  Dr. Francesco Romano (NPL/INFN), Dr. Anna Subiel (NPL) 
Orla McCusker

Laser-driven acceleration and control of high energy ion beams

Prof. Marco Borghesi

 

Dr. Satyabrata Kar

 
Carla McDonnell

Characterising an atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet

Prof. David Riley  Dr. Thomas Field  
Jyotirup Sarma

Ion Acceleration and Related Phenomena in Laser Plasma Interaction

Prof. Marco Borghesi

 
 
Rachel E. Smith 

Ultrafast Lensless Imaging in the Extreme-Ultraviolet

Dr Mark Yeung Dr Brendan Dromey

 

Centre for Nanostructured Media

 

 Name of StudentPhD Research Theme or PhD Thesis TitlePrincipal SupervisorSecondary Supervisor
Jesi Maguire

 Novel Functional Behaviour in Nanoscale Ferroelectrics

Prof. Marty Gregg   Dr. Raymond McQuaid  
Conor McCluskey

 Investigation of topological defects in ferroelectrics

Prof. Marty Gregg

Dr. Raymond McQuaid
Tamsin O' Reilly

Exploring domain cross-talk and cycling effects in polycrystalline ferroics

Dr Miryam Arredondo-Arechavala  Dr Damien McGrouther 

John J. Scott

Ferroelastic Domain Dynamics by In-Situ Techniques

Dr Miryam Arredondo-Arechavala Prof. Marty Gregg  

Ahmet Suna

Ferroelectric domain wall memristors as artificial synapses

Prof. Marty Gregg Dr. Amit Kumar

 

 

 

Centre for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics

 

 Name of StudentPhD Research Theme or PhD Thesis TitlePrincipal SupervisorSecondary Supervisor
Sheron Blair

Universal resources for quantum information processing over continuous variables

Dr Alessandro Ferraro  Prof. Mauro Paternostro
Jack Cassidy

Many-body Theory of Positron Interactions with Molecules

Dr. Dermot Green Dr. Myrta Grüning
Andrew Conroy

Calculation of electron-impact excitation cross-sections for neutral iron-peak species

Dr. Catherine Ramsbottom Prof. Francis Keenan
Jarod Gouldie

Relativistic Dirac R-matrix photoionisation calculations through to their implementation with stellar opacity
codes

Dr Connor Balance Dr Stuart Sim
Jaroslav Hofierka

Many-Body Theory of Positron Interactions

Dr. Dermot Green

Dr. Myrta Grüning
Lynda Hutcheson

Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Relativistic Processes

Dr. Andrew Brown Prof. Hugo van der Hart  
Heather Leitch 

Heat Transport in Quantum Devices

Dr Gabriele De Chiara   
Peter McConnell

Non- Linear gates enabling Universal Quantum Computation with continuous variables

Dr Alessandro Ferraro

 
Luke Roantree

Attosecond Spin-Orbit Spectroscopy

Dr. Andrew Brown Prof. Hugo van der Hart

Qiongyuan Wu

Ultracold Quantum Thermo-machines

Prof. Mauro Paternostro Dr Gabriele De Chiara

 

Mathematical Science Research Centre

 

 Name of StudentPhD Research Theme or PhD Thesis TitlePrincipal SupervisorSecondary Supervisor
Gareth Boreland

Information theoretic parameters for graphs and operator systems

Prof Ivan Todorov

 
Melanie Campell

Everything Changes Over Time: Transforming Joint Modelling Methodology

Dr. Lisa McFetridge

 
Karys Dickson

Accretive Operators

Dr. Petr Siegl

Dr. Thomas Huettemann

 
Dulan Dias

Artificial Intelligence as a Health Intervention for Managing Patient Discharge Decision Processes

Prof Adele Marshall  Dr Aleksandar Novakovic  
Ethan Hawthorne

Preservers on Operator Systems

Dr Ying-Fen Lin

 
Jonathan Henderson

Point Pattern Analysis of Retinal Ganglion Cell loss in Glaucoma

Dr Hannah Mitchell

Dr Andrea Munaro
Nathan Kirk

Uniform Distribution in Compact Topological Groups with Application to Quasi-Monte Carlo Integration

Dr Florian Pausinger  Dr Ying-Fen Lin 
Tasha Montgomery

Algebraic K-theory of projective spaces associated with strongly graded rings.

Dr. Thomas Huettemann

Prof Ivan Todorov
Donal O’Cofaigh

Linear Preservers

Dr Ying-Fen Lin

 
Michael Rosbotham

Cohomological Dimensions for C*-algebras

Dr Martin Mathieu Dr Gabriele De Chiara 
Niall Taggart

Unitary Homotopy Calculus

Dr. David Barnes

Prof Ivan Todorov

Emel Yavuz

Equivariant Orthogonal Calculus

Dr. David Barnes  Dr. Lisa McFetridge 

 

In This Section
PhD Research Students
  • Research
  • Pablo Galán de Anta - Student Profile
  • Kerem Osman Çubuk - Student Profile
  • Fionntán Callan - Student Profile
  • Ryan Campbell - Student Profile
  • Christopher Dillon - Student Profile
  • Caitlin Gilchrist-Millar - Student Profile
  • Dominik Kiersz - Student Profile
  • Conor MacBride - Student Profile
  • Christopher McCooey - Student Profile
  • Stephanie Merritt - Student Profile
  • Sean Quinn - Student Profile
  • James Edward Robinson - Student Profile
  • Richard Smith - Student Profile
  • Jamie Wilson - Student Profile
  • Javier Fernández Troncoso - Student Profile
  • Musharei Abdullal A Alanazi - Student Profile
  • Suhail Albakheet - Student Profile
  • Asmaa Mohammad S Ali - Student Profile
  • Matthew Charlwood - Student Profile
  • Benjamin Greenwood - Student Profile
  • Fayza Adel Hanafy Hassan - Student Profile
  • Cormac Hyland - Student Profile
  • Sinéad A. Mannion - Student Profile
  • Orla McCusker - Student Profile
  • Jyotirup Sarma - Student Profile
  • Rachel E. Smith - Student Profile
  • Andrew Conroy - Student Profile
  • Jaroslav Hofierka - Student Profile
  • Heather Leitch - Student Profile
  • Peter McConnell - Student Profile
  • Luke Roantree - Student Profile
  • Gareth Boreland - Student Profile
  • Melanie Campell - Student Profile
  • Karys Dickson - Student Profile
  • Ethan Hawthorne - Student Profile
  • Nathan Kirk - Student Profile
  • Michael Rosbotham - Student Profile
  • Niall Taggart - Student Profile
  • Tasha Montgomery - Student Profile
  • Dulan Samuditha Dias - Student Profile
  • Lauren Connell- Student Profile
  • Hristo Gergov- Student Profile
  • Hugh Littlehailes- Student Profile
  • Josua Lo- Student Profile
  • Pierre Maidment- Student Profile
  • James McCartan- Student Profile
  • Simon Munro- Student Profile
  • Anthony Murphy- Student Profile
  • Tamsin Isabel O’Reilly - Student Profile
  • Frederic Rendell-Bhatti- Student Profile
  • Sarah Ruddell- Student Profile
  • Tiernan McCaughery - Student Profile
  • Donal O’Cofaigh - Student Profile
  • Emel Yavuz - Student Profile
  • Jeremy Rigney - Student Profile
  • Carla McDonnell - Student Profile
  • Conor McCluskey - Student Profile
  • Jesi Maguire - Student Profile
  • John J. Scott - Student Profile
  • Jack Cassidy - Student Profile
  • Matthew McCollum - Student Profile
  • Lynda Hutcheson - Student Profile
  • Conor McAnespie - Student Profile
  • Shaun McLaughlin - Student Profile
  • Conor Fegan - Student Profile
  • Nicholas Stephen - Student Profile
  • Colm Fitzpatrick - Student Profile
  • Sean McCallum - Student Profile
  • Sam Shepherd - Student Profile
  • David Jackson - Student Profile
  • Sheron Blair - Student Profile
  • Peter Read - Student Profile
  • Laura Buchanan - Student Profile
  • Qiongyuan Wu - Student Profile
  • Aaron Monson - Student Profile
  • Tamsin O'Reilly - Student Profile
  • Jarod Gouldie - Student Profile
  • Jonathan Henderson - Student Profile
  • Chloe Ho - Student Profile
  • Matthew Dobson - Student Profile
  • Orla Surgeoner - Student Profile
  • Brendan Loughran - Student Profile
  • Ahmet Suna - Student Profile
  • Jonathan Kennedy - Student Profile
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