Team Members
Our world class team at Bangor university have extensive knowledge in all disciplines relating to Nuclear science. With this expertise we plan to teach the next generation of nuclear scientists.
Prof Bill Lee
Founding Director
Bill is Sêr Cymru Professor of Materials in Extreme Environments and Founding Director in the NFI, is on advisory committees to AWE, UKAEA and NNL, and was previously MoD Chief Scientific Advisor Nuclear, Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology, Centre for Nuclear Engineering, and Head of Materials at Imperial College.
Prof Simon Middleburgh
Director
Simon is a professor in nuclear materials and Director of the NFI. He joined Bangor in 2018 having previously held positions with Westinghouse and ANSTO.
Prof Michael Rushton
Co-Director
Having joined the university in 2017 after a position at Imperial College London’s Centre for Nuclear Engineering, his research focuses on the atomic scale modelling of materials.
Prof Laurence G Williams
Deputy Director
Professor Laurence G 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 and the NDA Chief Engineer.
Dr Walter Villanueva
Reader in Thermal Hydraulics
Walter is a Reader in Nuclear Engineering. He was a Docent at KTH and did a postdoctoral work at NIST. Currently, he is in-charge and PI of the MSParc Thermal-hydraulics Laboratory with the BULLET and THOR rigs.
Dr Tessa Davey
Reader in Nuclear Materials
Tessa is a UKAEA Reader in Nuclear Materials, focusing on modelling of materials in extreme environments.
Dr Tim Smith
Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Medicine
Tim Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Medicine. He joined the Nuclear Futures Institute at Bangor University in August 2023
Dr Cillian Cockrell
Lecturer in Nuclear Materials
Cillian is a Lecturer with interests in atomic and multi-scale modelling of Nuclear Materials and matter under extreme conditions.
Dr Phylis Makurunje
Lecturer in Nuclear Materials
Phylis brings a wealth of experience in ceramic materials processing and is working on fuel manufacture and design.
Dr Ritesh Mohun
Lecturer in Nuclear Materials
Ritesh’s research focuses on the synthesis and behaviour of novel materials, including those designed for nuclear fuel applications, under relevant operational environments and also in atomic scale modelling.
Dr Mark Ogden
Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Medicine
Mark Ogden is a Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Medicine. He joined the Nuclear Futures Institute at Bangor University in July 2023.
Our Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr Chris Moore
Visiting Researcher
Chris focuses on neutron radiation shielding in the central column of spherical tokamaks, supporting experiments on fusion technologies and developing high-performance shielding materials.
Dr Gareth Stephens
Nuclear Fuels & Materials
Dr India Marshall
India’s research involves coupling finite element method analysis and biomimicry – the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex engineering problems.
Madinka Bright Mweetwa
Bright was PhD student in Reactor Design and Thermal Hydraulics with a focus on Small Modular Reactor physics at the NFI until 2026. Since completing his PhD, he has joined our team of Postdoctoral Researchers.
Dr Mehdi Gardi
Fusion Energy regulation & Safety
Mehdi is a PDRA with an interest in atomistic simulations and numerical modeling of amorphous materials. His work at the Nuclear Futures Institute includes the application of glass science to the nuclear industry.
Dr Tom Smith
Simulation of Fusion Materials
Dr Tom Griffiths
Tom joined Bangor University as a post-doc on the UKAEA project Tritium Reaction Integrated Multiphysics Analysis eXperiment (TRIMAX). His work focuses on developing digital twin simulations to mimic and support tritium breeding experiments on the Lithium Breeding Tritium Innovation Programme.
Dr Yehor Yudin
Uncertainty Quantification for Fusion Materials
Yehor’s research is looking at developing uncertainty quantification methods and numerical models for fusion research. Currently he is working on TRIMAX, an uncertainty-aware code for tritium transport in Lithium-based ceramics.
Dr Elia Zancan
Fuel Manufacture
Elia’s research is centred around the production route of fuel compacts by the development of a lab scale chemical vapour infiltration platform, and on binder jetting of both oxide and non-oxide ceramic structures for various applications.
Dr Robert Annewandter
Robert’s work focuses on modelling nuclear fuel and nuclear materials for fusor systems, and fuel performance codes for fission systems. His interest is also in subsurface flow and transport modelling for the CTBT.
Dr James Macdonald
Nuclear Engineering
James is working on the LiFTOFF project to develop a liquid lithium heat exchanger. His expertise includes computational fluid dynamics, advanced manufacturing, and technology development at TRL 3–5.
Our Research Students
Archana Prasad
Barry Miller
Barry’s research shall focus on the 2-phase pressure drop which will be investigated at the THOR facility. Barry joined Bangor University having secured funding for a PhD through the General Electric Company Sweeden.
Ben Kendall
Ben completed his undergraduate studies at Bangor University and secured a sponsored studentship with AWE. His PhD focuses on nuclear material science, particularly testing and modelling materials under varied strain-rate conditions.
Cameron McFarlane
Cameron first joined Bangor University in 2021, but started his PhD work in 2025. His funding is provided through AWE and his CDP is with the NTR-Net. His PhD project will be focused on the enrichment of HALEU fuels.
Celt Griffith
Celt’s work is focused on researching corrosion/erosion effects of molten lead, working on BULLET at MSparc, where different samples will be tested for corrosion resistance.
Cintia Leite Goncalves
In October 2022, Cintia joined the Nuclear Futures Institute as a PhD student sponsored by Westinghouse Electric. Cintia’s research focuses on the impact of thermal conductivity of uranium nitride fuel.
Delisa Mamba
Delisa joined the NFI in November 2023. His research focuses on developing a framework for uncertainty/ sensitivity analysis on fast spectrum molten salt reactor.
Edward Harris
Ed is part of the Fusion CDT, where his PhD research investigates the potential development of a dedicated tritium production industry to support future fusion power plants.
Eron Hoti
Eron joined Bangor University having secured funding for a PhD through the Fusion Engineering CDT and UKAEA. His PhD work will focus on understanding phase decomposition in SMART-W alloys in a fusion power plant environment.
Geraldyne Ule Duque
Geraldyne joined the NFI in April 2023, she has completed an undergraduate project in Reactor Physics, and a further Masters in Medical Physics at Valencia University in Spain. She is now taking on a PHD sponsored by the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).
Harvey Plows
Harvey’s research focuses on exploring the use of fibre Bragg grating (FBG) grid sensors for nuclear thermal hydraulics experiments. Additionally, throughout Harvey’s PhD, he has assisted with the construction, commissioning, and operation of the NFI’s THOR facility.
Jack Atherton
Jack completed his MPhys in Physics at the University of Southampton in 2024. In his final year, he worked on a research project investigating the single production of vector-like quarks at the Large Hadron Collider.
Jacob Taylor
Jacob joined the Nuclear Futures Institute in late 2024 as a PhD student sponsored by the NTR-Net. He is currently working on intentional nuclear forensics.
Josh Hobbins
Josh joined Bangor University having secured funding for a PhD with the UKAEA as part of the ESPRC’s Nuclear Energy Futures CDT. His work will be focussed on material simulations of steels for future fusion power plants.
Josh Hughes
Josh joined the Nuclear Futures Institute at Bangor University having secured PhD funding through a sponsored studentship by Roll Royce. His PhD work focuses on alternative nuclear fuel fabrication methods.
Kamil Klimczak
Lewis Dixon
Lewis has completed a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc in Computer Science.
Moli Smith
Moli joined the NFI in 2023 as a PhD student in the Materials Group. Her project, sponsored by AWE Nuclear Security Technologies and supported by the Nuclear Energy Futures CDT, looks at how radioactive ageing affects the nuclear forensic signatures of actinide oxides.
Olatunde Michael Oni
Olatunde Michael Oni is a doctoral researcher with a strong academic background in Radiation and Health Physics. Driven by a passion for advancing cancer therapies, he is focused on integrating innovative approaches from nuclear medicine and nanomaterials to develop personalised, high-precision treatments.
Patryk Labuda
Patryk joined Bangor University in 2022, doing his bachelor’s before moving onto doing a PhD funded through Westinghouse and the EPSRC. His PhD work shall focus on the manufacturing of nuclear fuels.
Pranav Rocky Sabuji
Pranav joined the Nuclear Futures Institute after completing a BEng in Electronic Engineering. He has secured industry funded sponsorship from Amentum and EPSERC for a PhD investigating the thermal conductivity of nuclear materials, with a focus on fuel cladding and oxide growth.
Simon Stephens
Simon started his PhD in Nuclear Engineering in 2022 focusing on lithium/hydrogen isotope interactions for use in the Nuclear Fusion industry.
Sunday Nwokolo
Sunny’s research focus is optimising X-ray CT scanning for reliable evaluation of structural and additively manufactured materials. Funded by TETFund, his work integrates simulation and experimental validation.
Tom Scott
Tom completed his bachelor of Engineering in Computer System Engineering with First-Class Honours in May 2023.His dissertation focused on creating a digital model of the THOR facility in M-Sparc using OpenModelica.
Will Gallon
Will joined NFI at Bangor University after receiving funding from an AWE / NTR-NET / University of Bristol studentship for his PhD. His focus is intentional forensics for security of nuclear waste.
Zola Hinds
Zola is currently undertaking a PhD in Nuclear Engineering with a focus on using Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics for fuel performance modelling. Her project is funded by the National Nuclear Laboratory and OPERA HPC.
Brandon Stratton
Brandon joined the Nuclear Futures Institute in 2022 as a PhD student sponsored by Tokamak Energy. He is currently working on lithium focused computational research developing atomistic models.
Conor Buchanan
Conor recently completed a Bsc(Hons) in physics with nuclear technology at the University of the West of Scotland. Conor’s PhD project focuses on studying Auger electrons for use in targeted cancer therapy.
Stuart Dunn
Stuart joined the NFI in January 2023, investigating predictive signature of common fuel cycle materials in support of nuclear forensic signature development. Stuart is completing a part time PhD whilst employed and sponsored by AWE and supported by Nuclear Energy Futures CDT.
Zahid Hasan
Zahid joined the NFI in July 2023, as a PhD student. He is studying Structural Integrity.
Shiwnagi Nileshkumar Rana
Stuart joined the NFI in January 2023, investigating predictive signature of common fuel cycle materials in support of nuclear forensic signature development. Stuart is completing a part time PhD whilst employed and sponsored by AWE and supported by Nuclear Energy Futures CDT.
Zahid Hasan
Zahid joined the NFI in July 2023, as a PhD student. He is studying Structural Integrity.
Zahid Hasan
Zahid joined the NFI in July 2023, as a PhD student. He is studying Structural Integrity.
Madinka Mweetwa
Bright is a PhD student (Nuclear Engineering) in Reactor Design and Thermal Hydraulics with a focus on Small Modular Reactor physics.
Our Technical & Support Staff
Brian Murcutt
Operational Manager
Brian is the Operational Manager for the Nuclear Futures Institute. After having worked in the university since 1988, he has joined to share his expertise, and to liaison with staff around all operations.
Emily Robinson
Operational Manager for PANDA
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 primary duties as a clerical officer are to assist the NFI in their daily activities and offer support for students and staff.
Danni Brook
Project Finance Officer
Danni joined Bangor University in 2021 and is currently the Project Finance Officer supporting the PANDA Doctoral Funding Award (DFA) programme at the NFI. Prior to joining NFI, she worked within Bangor University’s Post-Award Finance Team.
Laura Chadwick-Roberts
Clerical Officer
Laura is a bilingual clerical officer for the NFI, Supporting the team with administrative tasks and making sure everything runs smoothly.
Dr Charlotte Baxter
Chief Technician
Charlotte is Chief Technician with responsibility over the THOR and BULLET facilities at M-Sparc, and is also a Radiation Protection Supervisor for the Dean St laboratories. Charlotte is a Chartered Chemist and holds a PhD in Chemistry from Bangor University. She also has industrial experience in glass formulation and veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Dr John Prabhackar
Chief Technician
John is the Chief Technician of the Nuclear Futures Institute. He has successfully built complex systems operating under ultra-high vacuum with samples at elevated temperatures as well as instruments operating at cryogenic conditions.
Benjamin Collins
Senior Technician
Ben is an environmental Science BSc graduate with microplastics research experience. Currently engaged in NFI’s LiME Project, supporting pilot-scale process engineering to validate the scalability of novel lab-based methodologies for industrial application.
David Williams
Senior Lab Technician
David is Senior Lab Technician at the Nuclear Futures Institute and radiation protection supervisor. A Bangor MChem graduate with four years’ industry experience, he is also pursuing a PhD in Nuclear Engineering and founded the Nuclear Laboratory Technicians group in 2022.
Eddie O'Carroll
Senior Lab Technician
Eddie joined the NFI in February 2024 and became Senior Nuclear Fusion Materials Technician in February 2025. His work focuses on supporting research into liquid metals, particularly lithium, for nuclear fusion applications.
Iwan Vaughan Hughes
Iwan joined the NFI in January 2024 as an NNL sponsored degree apprentice. His background is in mechanical engineering, having experience working with diesel and steam locomotives as well as the design, manufacture, and installation of clean water systems for commercial aquariums.
Laura Bischoff
Technician
Laura Bischoff graduated with a first-class honours Master of Chemistry degree in 2021. Since March 2025, she has been a Nuclear Fusion Materials Technician at the Nuclear Futures Institute, where she supports teaching laboratories as well as a range of research projects.
Our Network Extends Far Beyond Our Current Team
