101 Last checked 16th March 2022

Rob obtained his PhD in 1987 with Birmingham University, working on the UA1 experiment at CERN, for which the spokesperson, Carlo Rubbia, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1984. He subsequently worked on another particle physics experiment at CERN, Aleph on the Large Electron Positron Collider, the predecessor to the LHC, from 1986 to 1999. During that time, the spokesperson of that experiment, Jack Steinberger, also won the Nobel Prize for Physics, though for work done on another project. In Aleph, he played a leading role in the most precise measurement of the mass of the W-boson.

In 1999, Rob changed track, moving into the field of accelerator science. As part of an initiative to restart accelerator R&D for particle physics, he played a leading role in studies of a potential future project to make precise measurements of a phenomenon called neutrino oscillations, the Neutrino Factory. This later led to his interest in the use of accelerators for a number of applications, in particular in medicine. During this time, Rob has been PI of a number of projects, for example a FP7 Design Study of a future high intensity neutrino oscillation facility in Europe, EUROnu, and the construction of the first of a new kind of accelerator, a so-called non-scaling Fixed Field Alternating Gradient accelerator (ns-FFAG). This machine is called EMMA.

Rob is currently the PI of two projects. The first is studying targets for producing intense beams of secondary particles using high power proton beams. Amongst others, this is studying upgrades to the ISIS target at the Rutherford Applelton Laboratory for making more intense beams of neutrons and is contributing to studies of the target for the European Spallation Source in Sweden. Rob has two particular interests in the target area. The first is the production of epithermal neutrons for a novel form of cancer therapy called Boron Neutron Capture Therapy. The second is medical isotope production for imaging, especially 11C production for PET scanning and 99Mo production for SPECT imaging.

The second project is an Accelerator Applications Network, as part of a CERN coordinated FP7 project called EuCARD2. This aims to take accelerator technology developed for particle physics and determine whether this can bring improvements to applications in medicine, energy production, the environment and industry.

Rob is also still investigating the possible applications of ns-FFAGs, in particular for treating cancer and for power generation via so-called Accelerator Driven Systems (ADS), and the applications of high current accelerators at low energy.

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