Fusion Frontiers: The Experience of a First-Year PhD Student at the Annual Conference
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By Matty Warner
Photos taken by Joel Adams
After just over six months of delving into fusion fundamentals through talks and workshops, the first-year CDT training programme culminated with the annual Frontiers of Fusion and Student Conference at the University of York. For first-year students like myself, it was a unique chance to hear from well-regarded academics and industry professionals at the forefront of fusion research and apply our extensive training. For second and third-year CDT students, Frontiers offered the opportunity to present current work and reconnect with their cohort, while also offering wisdom to those beginning their research.
The week began with a series of talks covering diverse fusion topics, and was formally introduced by the Dean of York Graduate Research School, Professor Paul Wakeling. Professor Laurence Williams OBE from Bangor University provided a thorough review of safety and regulatory issues for fusion power plants, drawing on his six decades in the nuclear sector (which made my task of writing a concise introduction extremely challenging!). Heather Barton, Head of Performance Improvement at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, then discussed grand challenges in decommissioning existing nuclear plants, highlighting the utility of cross-industry collaboration and shared lessons across fission, fusion, and renewables.
Clockwise from Top Left: Paul Wakeling, Heather Barton, Laurence Williams
Rosaria Villari, from ENEA’s Nuclear Department, then discussed the importance of fusion neutronics modelling for tokamaks, essential for understanding irradiation damage and tritium production. Rounding off the first day, Debbie Kempton, Director of Engineering Programme for STEP, reviewed challenges in delivering this large-scale infrastructure project. She emphasized the need for a larger workforce across all disciplines – plasma physicists, engineers, computational modellers – to meet the 2040 switch-on target, noting how the Fusion CDT helps equip researchers for these complex projects.
From left to right: Rosaria Villari, Debbie Kempton
Day 2 arrived and with it came four more high-quality lectures, with the first two focusing on the technical development of lasers and their operating facilities. Professor Alec Thomas (University of Michigan) described why high-powered lasers are vital for fusion, detailing their production and physics. Cristina Hernandez-Gomez (Central Laser Facility Associate Director) then provided insights into the infrastructure required for high-power lasers, focusing on the Extreme Photonics Applications Centre (EPAC). The afternoon began with Nikita Chaturvedi (Imperial College London) discussing magneto-inertial fusion experiments, exploring the intersection of magnetic fields aiding inertial fusion processes and showcasing advancements in national pulsed power facilities. The day concluded with James Ellis’ (Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology) overview of how plasmas are used in the semiconductor industry, introducing microchip production stages and the many applications of plasma physics, while also addressing environmental concerns.
Clockwise from top left: Alec Thomas, Cristina Hernandez-Gomez, Nikita Chaturvedi, James Ellis
On day 3, the lecture series concluded with a focus on JET and ITER. Damian King (JET Operations Manager at UKAEA) gave detailed insights into operating JET during a deuterium-tritium (D-T) campaign, covering timelines, challenges, and lessons learned. Simon Pinches (Plasma Modelling & Analysis Section Leader at ITER) followed up with an overview of the ITER project’s current status, technical challenges, and construction timelines, explaining how its integrated modelling programme will develop interdependent workflows for complex reactor systems.
From Left to Right: Damian King and Simon Pinches
Following the “Frontiers” talks, the student conference began, organised almost entirely by a first-year CDT cohort committee – an experience that offered great insight into conference setup. From setting up a reasonable timetable, organising catering between sessions, and collecting abstract/poster titles, a lot of work went on behind the scenes to make the latter part of the week run smoothly. Many thanks go to Charlotte Brown and Yahya Nasir, second year CDT students who used experience from the previous Frontiers conference to guide and oversee the actions of the first-year committee. The first batch of student presentations was followed by a poster session, where all first-year students introduced their diverse projects, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. The Fusion Learning Studio played host to the myriad of conversations among students and staff and was buzzing with fusion chatter throughout the session. I was initially quite nervous to discuss my project but once I began to converse with my peers, all nerves subsided and I could immediately felt the benefit of these knowledge-sharing events. The poster session was also assessed, with prizes awarded for the top three. Dalir Kosimov and Sean Beggan scooped up joint second-place prizes for their respective posters and I am still in shock that, given the high standard of posters on display, that I was awarded the first-place prize. I thoroughly enjoyed both discussing my project with others and learning more about the variety of fusion research journeys that my colleagues are embarking on, and being awarded this certificate capped off a fantastic afternoon.
Student Conference Poster Session
Day 4 consisted solely of student presentations from second and third-year CDT students. 44 presentations were delivered, highlighting the breadth of fusion research within the CDT and offering great insight into the PhD experience. Many students openly discussed challenges and pitfalls, which is refreshing and beneficial for new researchers. Academic research provides a unique work environment and can be particularly challenging due to the absence of instant gratification. Months of experiments, modelling and data analysis might yield a limited, and perhaps negative, results. Nonetheless, it is equally important to highlight the difficulties with research as it is to tout the successes in order to develop a comprehensive knowledge base across fusion research.
Student Conference
After a full day of presentations, a well-earned social event was organised by the student committee – a group meal for all 68 CDT students. Seating plans ensured a mixture of experiences and disciplines, allowing students to connect in a more relaxed environment outside of formal sessions.
Student Social
The final day began with Ella Eyre discussing the CDT’s mentorship scheme, offering connections with industry professionals. Ethan Attwood and Joel Adams then presented on the student-staff committee, emphasizing the importance of student feedback for improving the training course. The week concluded with a final round of student presentations, a fitting end to the busiest week in the Fusion CDT calendar. I thank Ella Eyre, Ruth Lowman, Cecelia Blake-Bain and Katy Welford for their dedication to the Frontiers event as well as Prof. Jon Graves, Prof. Nigel Woolsey and Prof. Roddy Vann, all guest speakers for their insights, and every student who attended. It was great to meet more researchers working towards the shared goal of making commercial fusion a reality.