People
Nuclear expertise and academic capacity at Bangor University is expanding rapidly with the appointment of international research ‘stars’, plus their supporting research teams, funded by the Welsh Government’s Sêr Cymru programme and the European Regional Development Fund.
Director
Prof. Bill Lee FREng
Professor Bill Lee is Director of the Nuclear Futures Institute and Sêr Cymru Professor of Materials in Extreme Environments at Bangor University. Bill is also Emeritus Professor of Materials and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Institute of Security Science and Technology (ISST) at Imperial College London. He was previously Deputy Chair of the BEIS Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), a member of the UK Government Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board (NIRAB) and is a former President of the American Ceramic Society.
Materials Academics
Dr. Simon Middleburgh
Simon is a Reader in nuclear materials and joined Bangor in 2018 having previously held positions with Westinghouse and ANSTO.
Dr. Michael Rushton
Michael is a senior lecturer with interests in the atomic scale modelling of materials.
Materials Postdoctoral Research Associates and Fellows
Dr. Phylis Makurunje
Phylis brings a wealth of experience in ceramic materials processing and is working on fuel manufacture and design.
Prince Rautiyal
Prince’s research interests include materials for nuclear industry, radiation-matter interactions, and glasses/ceramics for nuclear waste immobilisation.
Reactor Design & Thermal Hydraulics Academics
Dr. Marcus Dahlfors
Marcus has a background of 23 years in the nuclear energy and closely related research. While in academia his research was focused on accelerator driven systems (sub-critical, source-driven fast reactors) for transmutation of nuclear waste,
Reactor Design & Thermal Hydraulics Postdoctoral Research Associates and Fellows
Dr. Jivan Khatry
Jivan Khatry joins Bangor University with a PhD in Nuclear Engineering. He also has some research experiences after the PhD. He is from a thermal-hydraulics background, with research interests in reactor design, advanced nuclear reactors, small modular reactors, passive safety systems, propulsion reactors, nuclear co-generation and fusion energy.
Dr. Jinfeng Li
Jinfeng has backgrounds in reactor physics, microwave engineering, and power electronics. His research interests are in reactor core modelling using deterministic-Monte Carlo codes, and sensor systems development for reactor thermal-hydraulic facilities.
Nuclear Medicine Academics
Dr. Lee J Evitts
Dr Lee J. Evitts was appointed as a Lecturer in Nuclear Medicine at the Nuclear Futures Institute in 2020, following on from a post-doctoral position within the same institution. Lee’s research interests are in novel applications of radionuclides for the diagnosis and therapuetic treatment of disease.
Nuclear Medicine Postdoctoral Research Associates and Fellows
Dr. Fiona Pearce
Fiona joined the Nuclear Futures Institute in March 2021 as a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Nuclear Medicine. Her research interests include radiation detection and instrumentation in Nuclear Medicine and novel applications of radioisotopes.
Regulation & Policy Academics
Prof. Laurence Williams OBE FREng FIMechE FNucI
Professor Laurence Williams is Ser Cymru Professor of Nuclear Policy and Regulation. His interests lie in safety and regulation. Laurence was previously Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations.
Regulation & Policy Postdoctoral Research Associates and Fellows
Wendy Owen FSaRS FWES MINCOSE MIAM
Wendy has extensive experience of safety and dependability cases and management in a range of highly-regulated energy, transport and defence industries, and has long been actively involved in supporting development of safety legislation, standards and guidance within these sectors.
Nuclear Instrumentation & Control Engineering Academics
Dr. Hafiz Ahmed
Hafiz is a senior lecturer with interests in data-driven and artificial intelligence assisted control, estimation and health monitoring techniques.
Honorary and Visiting Academics
Dr. Antoine Claisse
Antoine is a senior engineer at Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB. He brings a wealth of knowledge related to advanced fuel modelling and commercialisation of materials.
Prof. Lyndon Edwards
Prof Lyndon Edwards is the National Director, Australian Generation IV Research at ANSTO and is the Chair of the GIF Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Engineering Task Force. His research focuses on how technology can reduce the time to deployment of advanced reactor systems.
Dr. Matthew Gilbert
Matt is a senior scientist in Nuclear Forensics at AWE. He brings extensive experience in the processing signatures of actinide materials to determine history and provenance.
Mike Hawkes
Mike has a technical background encompassing nuclear defence and high-performance / high-availability distributed computing for broadcast and mobile services. He invented defence and security systems; global mobile security services; and broadcast and integration platforms.
Prof. John Idris Jones
John Idris Jones is an honorary professor in the group. He is Chair of the Snowdonia Enterprise Zone and was previously Engineering Manager at the Magnox station at Wylfa.
Dr. Jean-Marie Le Corre
Jean-Marie is an honorary fellow engineer and BWR core thermal-hydraulics technical lead at Westinghouse Electric Sweden.
Prof. John Lillington
John is currently a Chief Technologist within Jacobs and is an Honorary Professor at Bangor University in the School of Computer Sciences and Electronic Engineering.
Mattias Puide
Mattias is a principal engineer at Westinghouse Electric Sweden AB. He has a background in the advanced manufacture of ceramics and nuclear fuels.
Prof. Andrew Sherry
Andrew Sherry is Special Advisor at the National Nuclear Laboratory and Professor at the University of Manchester with interest in nuclear technology, structural integrity and materials performance.
Prof. Paul Smith
Prof Paul Smith is the manager of Jacobs’ ANSWERS Software Service. He has worked in mathematical modelling in the nuclear industry for over 37 years.
Prof. John Stairmand
John Stairmand is the Technical Director of the Technology and Consulting business of Jacobs. John is a chartered chemical engineer. In the first half of his career he carried out modelling, experimentation and product innovation in thermal hydraulics and mass transfer. More recently, he developed the Jacobs materials science and structural integrity labs at Birchwood.
Prof. Lynda Warren
Lynda is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Law at Aberystwyth University and a Honorary Professor in the group. She has a special interest in law and policy relating to the nuclear industry and was Deputy Chair of the BEIS Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.
Industrial Sponsors
Dr Aidan Cole-Baker
Aidan is a Managing Consultant for Materials Science at Jacobs, specialising in reactor materials. His “Cradle to Grave” knowledge provides support to nuclear materials from specifying materials, through design and manufacturing oversight of reactor components, safety case support, R&T, post-irradiation examination and used fuel storage.
Students
Ph.D Students
Corey Bevan
Corey recently graduated from Bangor University with first class MEng degree in Electronic Engineering. During his studies, he has participated in projects involving the design of optical sensor systems and Internet of Things wireless sensor network systems.
Mustafa Bolukbasi
Mustafa completed his Applied Metallurgical and Materials Engineering education in Turkey. During this time, he worked with a range of techniques including Non-Destructive testing of aviation materials in “Turkish Technic”. After this he worked in the architectural aluminium industry as a quality engineer.
Fabio Martini
In June 2019, Fabio joined the Nuclear Futures Institute as a PhD student sponsored by Westinghouse Electric and by the KESS 2 program. Fabio is now working on the development of novel composite nuclear fuels to be used in commercial power plants.
Christopher Moore
Christopher’s research project is focused on developing an alloy that will be used as a neutron radiation shielding material for internal components of compact spherical tokamak reactors.
Megan Owen
Megan completed her degree in Electronic Engineering B.Eng at Bangor University before joining the Materials in Extreme Environments research group in August 2019 as a Ph.D. student. Her Ph.D. project focuses on the corrosion of zirconium alloys used within the nuclear industry and the possible role of alloying elements on grain boundary complexions.
Gareth Stephens
Gareth’s particular area of study is interested in the cladding that holds the fuel within the nuclear reactors. Gareth’s academic studies began in mid Wales at Aberystwyth University where he received a masters of materials physics in 2019. From there, He was granted the opportunity to study towards a PhD within the fantastic Nuclear Futures Bangor team.
Jack Wilson
Jack completed his integrated masters degree in Chemistry at Bangor University in 2019 working his final year in organometallic catalysis. Jack is supporting the development of accident tolerant fuel cladding as part of the Nuclear Energy Futures Centre for Doctoral Training. His project will highlight the potential use for high entropy alloys in water reactors and beyond.
MRes Students
Alexander Lin-Vines
Alexander is a MRes student that is studying high entropy alloys where he has produced a 5+ element metallic material. His work also includes studies on HEAs to allow for more control over desirable properties. Alex’s current research includes studying the neutron and ion radiation resistance of metallic 5+ element materials, he is also calculating the Frenkel defect energy of the material which will allow for greater insight on how long the material will last.
India Marshall
India joined our research group as a semester intern, investigating the feasibility of repurposing nuclear waste to break down plastic waste. This research accomplished primarily through advanced analytical techniques following experimental studies. This project was supervised by Dr Lee J. Evitts. In Autumn 2020, India re-joined the group to do a KESS sponsored MRes where she will conduct research looking at how losses can be reduced in hydraulic systems for automotive applications.
Technical and Support Staff
Samuel Owen
Sam completed his integrated masters degree studying chemistry in Bangor University in 2019. Sam's final year project was a DFT based study of a boric acid dynamic combinatorial library, he also has experience with IoT systems. His role at NFI is to aid academics and students with IT.
Emily Robinson
Emily studied art and graduated from the University of Arts London in 2018, she is a Welsh speaker and local to the Bangor area. Her main duties as a clerical officer is to assist the NFI in their daily activities and offer support for Students and Staff.