News and Events

To encourage cross-functional collaborations, and to facilitate opportunities for networking, we present a summary of recent and upcoming events within the UL Department of Physics. New arrivals to the Department (postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and academics) have also been highlighted.

Welcome new staff and postgraduates

A warm welcome to all of the new postdoctoral researchers, PhD and Master’s students, and staff who have recently joined the Department. We hope your time here is fruitful and rewarding.

PhD and Master’s students who have recently started:

Aengus McGill, supervised by Dr. Christoph Silien.

Bilad Jamshed, supervised by Dr. Christophe Silien.

Geetu Kumari, supervised by Dr. Sarah Guerin.

David O’Brien, supervised by Dr. Christophe Silien.

Subramanian Vellayappan supervised by Dr. Nanasaheb Thorat.

Khizar Shah, supervised by Dr. Ning Liu.

Dinesh Barnana, supervised by Dr. Ehtsham Ul-Haq.

Margam Tahertalani supervised by Dr. Nanasaheb Thorat.

Postdoctoral staff who have recently started:

Dr. Devika Laishram, working with Dr. Ning Liu.

Dr. Ciarán O’Malley working with Dr. Sarah Guerin.

Dr. Suman Bhattacharya, working with Dr. Sarah Guerin.

Awards and Achievements

Professor Noel Buckley - Heinz Gerischer Award 2022

Congratulations to Prof. Noel Buckley on receiving the Heinz Gerischer Award of the Europe Section of the Electrochemical Society. The Europe Section Heinz Gerischer Award recognises individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the science of semiconductor electrochemistry and photo-electrochemistry.

Noel received the award at the 242^nd meeting of the Electrochemical Society in Atlanta, Georgia. As part of the prize giving ceremony, an invitation was extended to Noel to deliver a lecture. The title of his lecture was “The Long Reach of Electrochemistry: Semiconductors, Metallization and Energy Storage”.

The accompanying paper can be found below: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/10903.0003ecst

Heinz Gerischer Award winner 2022, Noel Buckley. Noel gave a lecture as part of the prize giving ceremony.

From left to right: Nathan Quill, Maria Rybalchenko, Mehrdad Balandeh, Shafaat Ahmed, Robert Lynch, Noel Buckley, Andrea Burke and Varsha Sasikumar S.P

Niamh Hickey and Jack O’Callaghan elected to National Committees

Congratulations to Niamh Hickey (4^th Year Undergraduate) on being elected as an undergraduate representative on the IOP Ireland national committee.

Congratulations to Jack O’ Callaghan (3^rd Year PhD) on being elected as the inaugural Vice-Chair and 3^rd Level Liaison officer of the Inclusion and Diversity Society with Engineer’s Ireland.

UL Open Days, 20th & 21st October 2022

The UL Open Days are an event that always brings a unique energy to campus. When groups of 16-18 year old students congregate in one place, the enthusiasm they exude is contagious. The Department of Physics stand in EGO-10 was certainly a microcosm of this atmosphere.

It is a bespoke event for the Department, bringing together academics and postgraduates to celebrate physics, and to encourage the next generation to explore it. It was exciting to watch the students interact with various members of the department (including this writer!). The 2 days represent a glitch in the scientific matrix, where career standing and reputation are superseded by relatability and authenticity. I felt very out of touch and, being only 25, I (dangerously) assume it will get worse as you get older.

Congratulations to everyone who took part on the day. A special thanks to the technical staff for organising the EGO-10 stand and the labs, and to the academic staff. Well done also to Dr. Robert Lynch on his talks, they were extremely well-attended. The biggest thank you must go to the undergraduate students who helped over the 2 days. They brought a relatability and infectious enthusiasm to physics that resonated with both staff and student alike.

An action shot at the Physics stand in EGO-10.

John Sweeney demonstrating an experiment to a group of students.

Undergraduate students who helped over the 2 days. Thank you all.

SOPHia News – Dr. Sarah Guerin

For Science week, the SOPHia project is running a series of workshops for primary and secondary school students on the University of Limerick Campus. If you know of teachers/students who might be interested, let them know! Below is a small blurb, schedule and contact details for upcoming workshops and upcoming school visits.

Our SOPHia workshop is all about the exciting world of physics! There will be science experiments, some information about what physics is about, stories about famous physicists, career options in physics, and some things for you to try out at home or in the classroom. Our physics students here in the University of Limerick will explain their story of how they came to study physics too. The workshop is aimed to get more young people considering physics as a subject for their Leaving Cert, and have some fun along the away too!

Science Week Workshops:

November 15^th: Virtual (Online) SOPHia Project Workshops to register a place email sophiaphysicsproject@gmail.com [Primary or Secondary School]

Workshop 1 12:00-13:00
Workshop 2 13:30-14:30

September 17^th: University of Limerick SOPHia Project Workshops CG-022 to register a place email sophiaphysicsproject@gmail.com [Primary or Secondary School]

Workshop 1 10:00-11:00
Workshop 2 12:00-13:00
Workshop 3 13:30-14:30

Science Week School Visits:

November 16^th: SOPHia Project School Visit Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary School with UL Academy for Children.

November 18^th: SOPHia Project School Visit Thomond Primary School with UL Academy for Children

Christmas Carol Concert – Lauraine Howley

As we approach the Christmas Season, you are invited to attend the Christmas Carol Concert at the Redemptorist Church on Sunday 18^th December at 7:45pm – 21:00.

It is FREE to all who would like to attend with family, friends and / or work colleagues.

The Church displays a beautiful Nativity with the most amazing Christmas Trees, and of course, the children absolutely love this time of the year….. so, come along to the Redemptorist Church where the Mary Immaculate Choir & the Redemptorist Choral Groups [80 in total] who will be supported with a live orchestra - it is truly a magical evening, where we will be singing old & new Christmas Carols in 4 part harmonies.

We are also singing a very special Christmas Carol for the Ukrainian refugees who have been welcomed to Ireland in hoping their Christmas here will be a memorable one for 2022.

Dr. Paul Collins, of Mary Immaculate College is our Choral Musical Director.

Hope to see you there and wishing you all a lovely evening of carols.

Congratulations Dr Sarah Guerin & Dr Cian McKeown:

Warmest congratulations to Academic staff member Dr. Sarah Guerin and Dr. Cian McKeown on their marriage in County Clare on Thursday November 10^th last.

To celebrate the occasion, a bouquet of flowers and a card was presented to Sarah by Prof. Damien Thompson in the presence of colleagues in the physics department and the Bernal Institute at large on Friday November 4th in the Foyer of the Analog Devices building.

Sarah along with members of the UL Physics Department and the Bernal Institute on November 4^th last after being presented with a gift of flowers and a card.

Annual Undergraduate Physics Award in honour of Dr. Vincent Casey

The Dean of Science & Engineering, Professor Sean Arkins, has kindly announced an annual award for “Best 4^th year Physics Project” to commemorate the late Dr. Vincent Casey who was the founding Head of the Physics Department here in UL.

The award will commence this academic year, 2022-2023, and the winning project will be announced in May 2023.