2018 starts with some changes to the CDT in Metamaterials management:
Alastair Hibbins is taking on the role as Director from Roy Sambles as of 1 Jan 2018.
Roy Sambles has successfully led the CDT in Metamaterials since its beginnings in 2014. It has grown to a significant size with almost 100 researchers, consisting of about 30 supervisors and 65 post graduate research students (PGR) in 2017/18. After decades of intensive research, management and leadership roles, most recently in the CDT, and as President of the Institute of Physics, Roy has handed over more of the CDT leadership responsibility to Alastair during the past year with the aim to formalise the handover from 1 January 2018 as approved by the institution and EPSRC. Roy will continue to support the CDT as a member of the Management Board and as a supervisor with his expertise and a strong network of academic and industry partners.
Alastair is now building on a strong foundation to evolve the CDT programme and Exeter’s reputation as an institution that provides postgraduate researchers with the skills and understanding to become tomorrow’s leaders in industry, as well as in academia. He is passionate about providing an outstanding experience for talented, early-career researchers to prepare them for a variety of career pathways, as today’s PhD graduates are more likely than ever to find careers outside of academia, and the job roles for academics is evolving rapidly as well.
Alastair, the CDT management and the supervisors are working together to provide our graduates with the ability to design, harness and exploit the potential of functional and meta-materials, maintaining and furthering the UK’s position in this rapidly-developing field.
Isaac Luxmoore is formally included as Co-Director as of 1 Jan 2018.
Isaac is a Lecturer in Engineering (Nano-photonics) at the University of Exeter. He has supported the CDT investigator team since November 2016 whilst Bill Barnes was on study leave in 2016/17, pushing forward major aspects of the training programme development and implementation and providing valuable additional representation of the Engineering department in CDT management discussions. Bill returned from his study leave in September 2017 to take on CDT specific teaching duties in science and soft skill training, and Isaac will drive the development and further implementation of the overall training programme, including industry visits and invited talks from academic and industry representatives to enhance understanding of careers pathways and provide a broad range of insight into employment requirements. The institution and EPSRC approved the request to include Isaac as Co-Investigator on the CDT grant EP/L015331/1.
Ian Hooper is leaving his role as Technical Director as of 3 Jan 2018
Ian has provided exceptional support to the CDT management and the PGRs in his role as Technical Director over the past years. He has recently secured a new position on the Prosperity Partnership project Tailored Electromagnetic and Acoustic Materials (TEAM-A) which will allow him to focus his time, energy and intellectual resource fully to research. We are very sad to see Ian go, but understand his drive to fully commit to science. As the TEAM-A and CDT research topics complement each other we look forward to work together with Ian on more exciting and challenging research projects in the future.