The main focus of my work concerns the application of atomic scale computer simulation to problems associated with the physics and chemistry of industrially significant materials, and, in particular their interaction with defects and molecules.

Subjects that are of particular interest include radiation damage, nuclear fuels and waste form behaviour and performance (in collaboration with industry and national laboratories), ionic conductivity and defect processes for fuel cell materials, surface structural processes and interfaces between glass and ceramic materials. The methods used by me and my research group are mainly theoretical, including effective potential and quantum mechanical, static and dynamic techniques, although experimental techniques such as HREM and neutron diffraction have also been used.

##Positions Held

• 2013-: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chief Scientific Advisor
• 2011–2013: Specialist Adviser to the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee
• 2010–2013: Director, Rolls Royce University Technology Centre for Nuclear Engineering.
• 2008–2012: Director, Centre for Nuclear Engineering, Imperial College London.
• 2005–2010: Principal Investigator, Keeping the Nuclear Option Open, Research Councils UK, Multi-University Research Collaboration.
• 2002–: Prof. Materials Physics, Dept. of Materials, Imperial College London.
• 2000–2001: Bernd T. Matthias Scholar, Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA). Continuing as consultant and visiting scientist to present.
• 1998–2002: Reader in Atomistic Simulation in the Dept. of Materials, Imperial College London.
• 1996–2000: Associate Editor for Philosophical Magazine A.
• 1995–1998: Governors' Lecturer in Dept. of Materials , Imperial College London.
• 1990–1994: Assistant Director of the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory, The Royal Institution of Great Britain. Continuing from Jan 1995 - July 2000 as Visiting Research Fellow.
• 1989–1990: Research Fellow at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, on attachment to AERE Harwell Laboratory.
• July–Oct 1989: Visiting Research Fellow at Michigan Technological University (USA).
• 1985–1989: Research Fellow at the University of Keele (UK), on attachment to the Theoretical Physics Division, AERE Harwell Laboratory.

Publications

Please see the main publications page for a list of my papers.

Prizes and Awards

• 2010: Institute of Materials Griffith Medal
• 2002: Institute of Materials Rosenhain Medal
• 2000: Imperial College Award for Excellence in Teaching