Email: portico-services@ucl.ac.uk
Help Desk: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ras/portico/helpdesk
- Professor of Physics
- Dept of Physics & Astronomy
- Faculty of Maths & Physical Sciences
I graduated from Cambridge University in 1984 with a BA in Physics and Theoretical Physics, and went on to complete a DPhil in 1987 at Oxford University on the theory of elementary particles. I then moved to the Theoretical Physics Division at the Harwell Laboratory of the UK Atomic Energy Authority. In 1993-5 I was attached to the Department of Materials at Oxford University as a part-time Royal Society Industrial Fellow. I left Harwell at the end of 1995 to join the Condensed Matter and Materials Physics group of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCL. I became a Reader in Physics in 2003 and a Professor in 2007.


My research interests lie in the area of statistical physics, particularly soft condensed matter and biological physics. I am particularly interested in a theoretical understanding of the nucleation of a phase transition, such as condensation of aerosols or freezing of liquids, and in nonequilibrium entropy-producing processes in general, particularly through the framework of stochastic thermodynamics and fluctuation relations. I have also worked in areas as diverse as quark physics, laser-atom interactions, friction and wear, atmospheric physics and environmental pollution, deformation and fracture of materials, and problems in nuclear reactor design.
- Soft condensed matter
- Nucleation phenomena
- Aerosol science
- Biomolecular mechanics
- Entropy production and stochastic thermodynamics
- Small system kinetic processes
- Fluctuation relations
Statistical mechanics
Stochastic mathematics
Thermodynamics
01-OCT-2007 – 01-OCT-2007 | Professor | Physics and Astronomy/LCN | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-OCT-2003 – 30-OCT-2007 | Reader | Physics and Astronomy | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-OCT-1999 – 30-SEP-2003 | Principal Research Fellow | Physics and Astronomy | UCL, United Kingdom |
01-JAN-1996 – 30-SEP-2003 | Senior Research Fellow | Physics and Astronomy | UCL, United Kingdom |
1987 | Doctor of Philosophy | University of Oxford | |
1984 | Bachelor of Arts (Honours) | University of Cambridge |