Personal profile

Research interests

Stephen Gibson leads the Accelerator Group at Royal Holloway, as the Deputy Director of the John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science. His research in accelerator physics includes the development of advanced instrumentation to determine properties of intense hadron beams. His group collaborates with CERN Beam Instrumentation to develop Electro-Optic Beam Position Monitors for the High Luminosity LHC. His team built the transverse laserwire emittance scanner for the hydrogen ion beam of the new Linac4 at CERN and is currently implementing a novel laserwire at the Front End Test Stand at RAL. He studies beam-induced backgrounds that reach the ATLAS experiment.

Stephen joined Royal Holloway in 2013 with a background in Experimental Particle Physics and detector instrumentation, especially optical systems. He was a CERN Marie-Curie Fellow, where he studied the electron performance of ATLAS, electroweak physics, and radiation damage of the Pixel Detector. He was based at CERN between 2007 - 2012 for the exciting first run of the Large Hadron Collider, culminating in the discovery of the Higgs boson. He worked for over 10 years on the design and construction of the ATLAS experiment, first as a PPARC Fellow, then PDRA in Oxford, and later a CERN-Marie-Curie COFUND Fellow. He earned his D.Phil in Experimental Particle Physics from St. John's College, Oxford, in 2004 having graduated in MSci Physics from the University of Bristol in 2000. His interest was sparked by a summer student placement at CERN in 1999.

Teaching

Stephen is an experienced Physics tutor, having taught Oxford Undergraduates in the Physics Department, and at Worcester College and the Queen's College. At Royal Holloway, he tutors all first and second years courses, and currently delivers the second year lecture course on Optics and the third year course on Particle Detectors and Accelerators, including the student field trip to CERN. He also lectures at the CERN Accelerator Schools.

Stephen is the co-Admissions Tutor in Physics and an award winning Outreach Coordinator. He and Dr. Andrew Casey are often spotted at local schools, Open Days and Science Festivals, typically amid exploding bins of ping-pong balls.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or