Search

School of Physics, Engineering and Technology

University | A to Z | Departments

• 
• School of Physics, Engineering and Technology
• People
• Brian Fulton
• Brian Fulton, Personal Information

• Study
• People
• Research and innovation
• Public and schools
• About us
• Contact us
• Current staff and students

Professor Brian Fulton, BSc, PhD (Birmingham), CPhys, FInstP

Position	Professor of Physics and Head of Department
Previous Posts	1984-2000 - Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, University of Birmingham
	1980-1984 - Staff Scientist, Daresbury Laboratory, UK
	1977-1980 - Research Associate, University of Rochester, USA
Qualifications	BSc (I), PhD, Ch.Phys
Honours	Fellow of Institute of Physics

International, European and National Involvement

I am active in the development of nuclear physics on the international level through membership on the IUPAP (International Union of Pure and Applied Physics) Working Group on Nuclear Physics, having previously served on the OECD Global Science Forum working group on nuclear physics - bodies that work to chart the next stage in the evolution of our subject at international level.  In more specific roles, I am an international reviewer for the Australian Research Council and the National Science Foundation, USA. In recent years I have served on Visiting Committees to report on the support for nuclear physics communities in the USA (DoE), Germany (DFG) and Belgium (FOM). I also serve on the International Advisory Committee for a number of international conferences and am a co-editor for EPJA.  I am also on the Programme Advisory Committee which allocated beam time on the RIKEN radioactive beam facility in Tokyo, Japan.

I am also active in the European nuclear physics scene, having recently served as the chair of NuPECC, an Expert Committee of the European Science Foundation which oversees the development of nuclear physics in Europe.  I have also served on the working group for nuclear physics set up by ESFRI (European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructures). At present I am the convener for the working group preparing the Nuclear Astrophysics section for the new Long Range Plan for Nuclear Physics in Europe, and serve as the chair of the review committee for EuroGENESIS, one of the ESF EUROCORES programmes.  I have recently served as a member of the Governing Board of ECT*, the European Centre for Nuclear Theory, as a member of the Steering Committee of the EURISOL Design Study and on the Governing Board of the Hadron Physics I3 (both EU funded FP6 projects).

On the national scene, I serve on the STFC Science Committee (PPAN), advising on funding for Astronomy, Particle Physics and Nuclear Physics.  I have in the past served as a member EPSRC College and the EPSRC Physics Strategic Advisory Team and sat on the DTI review group on Nuclear Skills.

Research Interests

I have always been interested in the study of nuclear reactions, both the reaction mechanism itself and how reactions can be used as a probe to study particular aspects of the structure of the nucleus. My early interests were in transfer reactions and the description of these using coupled reaction channels models. This lead to an interest in "break-up", where one of the nuclei in the collision fragments into smaller clusters. Although my initial interest was to investigate how this process influenced the overall reaction, I sidetracked down a long, but particularly productive period using break-up to probe the cluster structure of nuclei. This was a fascinating period dealing with concepts such as "nuclear molecules" and "alpha chain states".

More recently I have turned my attention to the study of reactions of astrophysical interests. This is a wonderful area of study, where nuclear physics can contribute to the understanding of some of the most amazing sites in the universe (Novae, X-ray Bursters, Supernovae etc.). By making use of our understanding of reaction processes, and by exploiting our techniques developed to measure specific types of reactions, we can determine the rates of the key nuclear reactions which power these explosive sites. The experimental challenges are enormous - beams of radioactive nuclei are required and the low reaction rates demand extremely sensitive detection systems.

As an experimenter, my main interest has been in developing detection techniques to enhance reaction studies and this has led me to the construction of a number of large, multi-detector arrays. These have been built and operated in a number of overseas laboratories, indeed my latest large project is a new silicon detector array, SHARC, which is coupled to the TIGRESS gamma ray array at the TRIUMF Laboratory. I have been fortunate to have spent sabbatical periods at the Argonne National Laboratory (USA), the Australian National University (Australia) and the TRIUMF Laboratory (Canada) where I have learned much from the experimental groups at these institutions. I have also been fortunate in recent years to work with colleagues in many other laboratories in Europe (Jyvaskyla, Louvain-La-Neuve, GANIL, Strasbourg, ISOLDE) and overseas (Berkeley, MSU, Notre Dame, Australian National University). Along the way I have enjoyed forays into other areas of science (e.g. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) and a recent interest is in the search for neutrinoless double beta decay as a means of determining the mass of the neutrino.

I have published over 150 papers in refereed journals and over 200 conference contributions. I have presented over 30 invited plenary conference talks and supervised 15 PhD students.

Teaching

I enjoy teaching and over the last twenty years have been involved in lecturing, tutoring and demonstrating in laboratories, as well as in the administration of teaching and in the development of new courses. I have acted as external examiner for the Physics degree courses at other Universities and regularly act as external examiner for PhD theses.

I also greatly enjoy presenting science to the public and have been involved with many activities of this sort (lectures, radio, TV, glossy booklets etc.). The most recent examples have been a number of evening talks to IoP branches, an appearance on a Science Magazine (The Naked Scientist) broadcast on BBC Radio, a talk at the York "Café Scientifique" and a public lecture as part of the "Merchant Adventurers Science Lecture".