Oriel College to support new EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Superconductivity

Oriel Tutorial Fellow and Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, Professor Andrew Boothroyd will be a member of the academic team that will deliver research training and supervise graduate students at the new EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) on Superconductivity.

Boothroyd’s research specialty is condensed matter physics, and he is particularly interested in quantum materials. These are substances in which the electrons behave cooperatively to produce strange and useful phenomena, such as superconductivity and magnetism.

Boothroyd says, “Superconductors are special metals which offer no resistance to the flow of electrical current. They also have the property that they can levitate above a magnet. As well as being of fundamental interest, there is a huge industry which seeks to exploit the desirable characteristics of superconductors for applications in energy efficiency. Oriel’s support for the CDT will associate the college with this important field and with the graduate students who contribute to its development in the future.”

The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) led by the University of Bristol will bring together graduate superconductivity training in the universities of Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge across their Physics, Material Science, Engineering and Chemistry departments.

Professor Amalia Coldea from the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford said, ‘We are looking forward to welcoming the very best graduate students to advance this essential field. Superconducting materials are key to so many of society’s greatest challenges: transitioning to net zero with clean and renewable energy; advancing healthcare diagnostics through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems; underpinning the quantum revolution.”

Read more about the Superconductivity Training Centre on the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics website.