The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and Institute of Physics are proud to announce the award of the Culham Thesis Prize: Plasma Physics Group. The 2026 award goes to Dr Robin Timmis, University of Oxford, for her thesis, 'Attoseconds and the exascale: on laser-plasma surface interactions'.
This is an annual prize for excellence in the scientific method recognised by the award of a Doctor of Philosophy degree in plasma science from a UK or Irish university in the last two years.
On accepting her award, Dr Timmis said: "It has been an honour to receive this prize, and I am incredibly grateful to the many people who supported me throughout my doctorate. With our recent results, it feels like a particularly exciting time to be working on high harmonic generation from relativistic plasmas, and I hope the recognition this award brings helps to highlight the transformative potential of this field."
Details of the research, featuring results of extensive work on Gemini, feature in Dr Timmis' thesis, which can be found online here.
An overview of the research featured in an earlier news article on this website. A paper has also been published in Nature and can be accessed here.
