Fellow Detail

My research interest is based around materials that generate and store energy. I work to understand how the electrons and atoms in existing materials behave so that we can design new materials with target properties - for example, materials can efficiently convert sunlight into electrical energy.

I grew up in Newcastle, and became interested in computers after seeing the classic 90's film Hackers as a teenager. I moved to Birmingham to study physics, and ended up living in Birmingham for 13 years. After my undergraduate degree I trained as a mathematics teacher and taught at HMP Birmingham and a local primary school. This was followed by a PhD in Materials Science at Imperial College London - it was a long commute!

After a period of maternity leave I returned to academia to take up the position of Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow at Northumbria University in Newcastle. I am now working as an Assistant Professor at Northumbria, with most of my teaching responsibilities based around computational physics and quantum mechanics. I serve as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Open Source Software, and continue the software-related advocacy that began with my SSI fellowship. I am gradually building a research group at Northumbria, and hope to work at the interface of energy materials and software for many years to come.