Biography

I grew up in Northern Ireland and attended Queen's University Belfast (2004-2009). I moved to the University of Manchester, UK for postgraduate study, and I completed my PhD in Nuclear Physics in 2012. The experiments for my thesis work, titled "Investigating high-j single-particle energies in Z=51 nuclei", were conducted at Yale University, USA.

I joined the University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Adjunct Teaching Faculty from 2012-2014. Much of this was spent at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago developing novel infrastructure to study the structure and radioactive decay properties of atomic nuclei with extreme neutron-to-proton ratios. 

In 2015, I joined the Nuclear Structure group at the Australian National University. In addition to my role as a Research Fellow, I am a passionate educator and science communicator. I hold the role of Tuckwell Fellow, working closely with undergraduates on the Tuckwell Scholarship Program. I am also working to expand outreach and engagement of the Research School of Physics across the Asia-Pacific region. 

Education

2009-2012: PhD Experimental Nuclear Physics, The University of Manchester, UK.

2005-2009: MSci (Honours) Applied Mathematics and Physics, Queen's Univeristy Belfast, UK.

Grants and awards

Awards

ACT Tall Poppy Science Award (2019).

Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy (2019).

Fellow, Higher Education Academy (2017). 

 Research Grants

"Nuclear structure and search for isomer depletion levels in Cd-113", A.J. Mitchell and G.J. Lane, US Army International Technology Centre (2019).

"New Directions for Nuclear Spectroscopy with Nucleon-Transfer Reactions", A.J. Mitchell, ANU Major Equipment Committee (2019).

Outreach

I am passionate about science communication and contribute regularly to local and international outreach projects aimed at raising public awareness of nuclear science.

Local

•    I host many groups each year for hands-on training activities during visits to our particle-accelerator laboratory, including high-school students and their teachers and government employees. If you are interested in arranging a tour, please get in touch. I'd love to hear from you. 

•    Along with Prof Greg Lane, I run the ACT branch of the ‘ConocoPhillips Science Experience' for Year 9 and Year 10 students from across ACT and NSW. 

•    I spoken at a variety of public outreach events and high-school events.

International

•    I am involved in a teacher-training project in Timor Leste.

•    I lead a capacity-building program that engages in training and research in physics with the University of Yangon in Myanmar.

Teaching

Active courses

Convenor and lecturer, PHYS8204 Fundamentals of Nuclear Radiation (2015-current) https://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/PHYS8204

Co-convenor and lecturer, PHYS1001 Foundations of Physics (2019-current) https://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/PHYS1001

Research interests

Please refer to my active student research projects and recent publications. 

If you are a student and you're interested in finding more about opportunities to undertake research projects in nuclear physics, please get in touch.