Our people
The University of Manchester at Harwell (UoMaH) team is led by Director, Professor Neil Bourne.
Our group consists of a core technical team, Professional Services staff and researchers.
Job title
Dr Michael Baker
Michael is a Research Fellow in physical chemistry and is based in Manchester. He is interested in the application of X-ray and neutron spectroscopies to study the role of metal ion active sites in biology and in functional magnetic materials.
Sarah Batts
Sarah is our Senior Administrative Assistant and Neil Bourne’s PA. She is the first point of contact for enquiries and visitors to UoMaH. Sarah is inspired by science and has long experience working for the University.
Professor Neil Bourne
Neil is Professor of Matter in Extreme Environments and is the Director of UoMaH. Neil is also a Co-director of the University’s Thomas Ashton Institute.
Dr Antoine Cornet
Antoine is a Postdoctoral Research Associate working on an EPSRC funded project. His research focuses on the structural analysis of active and irradiated engineering materials to ensure safety and security of future energy supplies.
Dr David Eastwood
David is a Research Fellow dealing with safety and the mitigation of and response to risk. He is particularly interested in probing energetic and reactive materials such as batteries and catalysts using X-ray imaging and in situ synchrotron techniques.
Dr Alex Greenaway
Alex is an Experimental Officer with particular responsibility for health and safety. He can advise facility users on design of equipment and processes to ensure experiments are performed safely.
Dr Simon Hunt
Simon is a Presidential Academic Research Fellow in the Department of Materials. His main research interests are understanding the behaviour and evolution of the deep Earth which he does by performing high-pressure material property measurements. He also has an interest in in-situ synchrotron techniques.
Dr Jared Jones
Jared is a Mechanical Development Engineer assisting Harwell national facilities users with mechanical design and automation of experimental set-ups.
Dr Kun Yan
Kun is a lecturer in metallurgy affiliated to the Department of Materials based in Manchester. Her research focus areas include characterisation and modelling of damage formation in multi-phase engineering materials, as well as enhancing engineering materials performance via thermal-mechanical processing.
Dr Aneeqa Khan
Aneeqa Khan is a Research Fellow in nuclear fusion. Her research is focused on testing materials and components for nuclear fusion applications.
Dr Lin Ma
Lin is a research fellow in subsurface energy based in Manchester. She applies multi-scale 3D/4D imaging and characterisation methods to rocks and other porous media to study the microstructure and pore system in varied conditions (e.g. temperature, pressure, chemical and flows).
Steph Masoni
Steph is our Deputy Operations Manager. Her primary role is project management to support delivery of joint projects between The University of Manchester and Harwell Science Innovation Campus. She has more than five years’ experience working at Harwell.
Dr Wajira Mirihanage
Wajira is a Diamond-Manchester Fellow affiliated to the Department of Materials and is based in Manchester. His main research interests are focused on solidification microstructure and defect evolution in metallic alloys during casting, welding and additive manufacturing processes. Most of his current synchrotron X-ray work is focused on application of time resolved characterisation.
Dr Sara Nonni
Sara is an Experimental Officer supporting facility users from across Manchester during their experiments at Harwell. She is the main operator of our Nikon X-ray machine and can perform scans of samples upon request. With a doctorate in radiocarbon dating, Sara has a particular interest in the study of historic artefacts.
Dr Christopher Parlett
Christopher is a Research Fellow in catalysis. He employs operando x-ray spectroscopic techniques to assist in the elucidation of catalytically active sites, aiding the design and development of novel catalytic nanomaterials.
Dr Paul Wady
Paul is an Experimental Officer supporting facility users from across Manchester during their experiments at Harwell. With five years’ experience at the Dalton Cumbrian Facility's radiation damage beamlines, Paul has particular interest in activated samples handling and nuclear materials.