Staff

Michael is a Diamond-Manchester Fellow/Lecturer in Analytical, Measurements and 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 is the Facility Operations Officer at UoMaH, looking after recruitment, events, training courses, comms and marketing, website, office and building issues, and PA to Professor Jayne Lawrence.
Sarah has been at The University of Manchester since 2011 and has 33 years’ experience working in an international scientific environment, having worked previously at The National Radiological Protection Board, Diamond Light Source and the World Health Organization.

Timothy is a Professor of Materials and Imaging at The University of Manchester, Deputy Director of UoMaH, and Director of the National X-ray Computed Tomography Facility (NXCT) in the UK. His main interests include 3D and 4D characterisation of materials, color X-ray imaging, and stress corrosion cracking and hydrogen embrittlement in metals, particularly aluminum. Timothy earned his PhD from Leeds University on multiferroic single crystal materials. He worked in the Materials Division at NPL on various functional materials, including graphene, before joining Thermo Fisher Scientific in Manchester for 3D imaging of materials. He then joined the Department of Materials at The University of Manchester. With over 90 published journal articles, Timothy is known for his innovative 3D and beyond characterisation techniques, including X-ray CT and FIB-SEM serial sectioning analysis, gaining new insights into materials.

Danielle is our Data Analysis Manager supporting data handling, processing and visualization of X-ray and neutron datasets. She has a background in materials science and physics and enjoys automating data pipelines, statistical analysis and a well-crafted data visualization.

David is a Diamond-Manchester Fellow/Lecturer, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 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.

Marta is a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Manchester, and is an ISIS-Manchester Fellow working with Disordered Materials Group at ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.
Marta examines the molecular arrangements in nano-confined fluids, such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide within the pores of absorbents, as well as liquid reagents inside catalysts’ pores. The main aim of her ongoing studies is to investigate the impact of the confining matrix’ pore topology and its surface chemistry on local environment in confined species.

Damien is a Diamond-Manchester Fellow at Extremes dealing with the development of high pressure and high temperature experimental devices for National Facilities. They allow in situ measurements of indirect physical observables or direct visualisation with synchrotron imaging techniques. He is particularly interested in 4D characterisation of reacting and deforming rocks, subsurface resources and engineering and reactive materials.

Simon is a Presidential Academic Diamond-Manchester Fellow/Lecturer, in the Materials Science Department. 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.

Aneeqa Khan is a Lecturer in Nuclear Materials based at The University of Manchester. She completed a PhD in materials for fusion applications at the UoM, which was followed by postdoc positions at the ITER Organization and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. Her research interests focus on materials and novel manufacturing processes for nuclear fusion. She is a co-author on the UK Fusion Materials Roadmap.

She is Co-Lead of Fusion Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) activities at Manchester and an associate director of the CDT. She is also lead for Outreach, media, and engagement for the new Fusion Power CDT.

She is a member of the Fusion Industry Taskforce, regularly contributes to high profile panels and interacts with media (including Al Jazeera, BBC, The Guardian) and policy makers on fusion and inclusion and diversity in STEM. She was invited to Nuclear in Parliament Week and to contribute to Government Office for Science Foresight Project.

Harry is a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and is primarily located at the Harwell Campus, where he hopes to further develop his connections with the diverse scientific community of Harwell.

Harry is a condensed matter physicist with a focus on quantum magnetism and the interplay between spin, orbital and lattice degrees of freedom in crystalline materials. He seeks to understand these materials using neutron scattering at large user facilities such as ISIS Neutron and Muon Source and through theoretical and computational modelling. A major focus of his is the development of sophisticated modelling tools to better understand data measured at large-scale facilities and support the wider research community.

Jayne is Professor in the Division of Pharmacy and Optometry and is the Director of UoMaH. Her research focuses on developing and characterizing self-assembled nanomedicines for the delivery of drugs and genetic material and understanding the interaction of the nanomedicines and the therapeutic agents they contain with bio-membranes. She achieves this using a variety of neutron and X-ray techniques.

Jacob is a Technical Specialist supporting users of the Harwell facilities. Jacob has a diverse background of engineering and physical sciences with experience in industry and academia.

Inés Lezcano-González is a Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Her research is focused on understanding how catalysts and reaction processes operate at the molecular level, aimed at guiding the rational design of new or improved catalyst formulations. To achieve this, she uses X-ray and laser-based operando techniques, in collaboration with Diamond Light Source and the Central Laser Facility.

Lin is a Diamond-Manchester Fellow/Senior Lecturer, Chemical Engineering, 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).

Wajira is a Diamond-Manchester Fellow/Lecturer, Materials Engineering, 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.

Sara is a Technical Specialist 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.

Christopher is a Diamond-Manchester Fellow/Lecturer, Chemical Engineering, 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.

Christina is our Senior Technical Specialist joining UoMaH in October 2022 and has a background in Engineering Materials. Christina leads the technical team in supporting user experiments at DLS, ISIS and CLF as well as the development and maintenance of sample environments at UoMaH.

Ben is a Technical Specialist assisting Manchester users with mechanical design and automation of experimental setups. Previously, Ben worked for Oxford Space Systems designing and building deployable spacecraft having studied Aerospace Engineering followed by Space Science and Engineering.

Lorna is an Technical Specialist supporting users of the Harwell facilities, and has an interest in X-ray imaging and in situ analysis techniques. Her doctorate was based on metal additive manufacturing processes, with a background in materials science and mechanical engineering.

Kun Yan is a Diamond-Manchester Fellow/Lecturer in Metallurgy, Materials Engineering, 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.

Shanshan is in the Department of Materials and joins the UoMaH team to strengthen ties between The University of Manchester and the National Facilities at the Harwell. Her research is focused on the development of heterogeneous thermal and nonthermal plasma catalytic systems for a range of sustainable chemical reactions (e.g., H2 production, N2 fixation and CO2 conversion) and utilising operando spectroscopy techniques for fundamental study of reaction mechanisms.

Her work includes development of metal oxide and porous materials (e.g., zeolite, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)) for catalysis process. And a range of techniques including DRIFTS, UV-vis and X-ray spectroscopy such as XAS and XPDF are used to investigate how the material properties affect the reactivity.