Dashboard – I'm a Scientist 2024

About Me:

I like to watch football, read, listen to interesting podcasts, and go for hikes in the mountains.
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I always loved football and played a lot when I was a kid, I still like to do it when I get a chance. During my PhD, I lived in Munich, which is only 1.5hours away from the Alps, so I got into hiking quite a bit! I also sometimes try more adventurous activities in the mountains, for example I like to ski, and have you heard of a “via ferrata”?
My pronouns are:

he/him
My Work:

I am a theoretical particle physicist working on precision predictions for collider experiments. The main goal is to understand building blocks of Nature. My experimental colleagues build huge experiments such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. They use these big machines to collide particles and measure what comes out using detectors. It is part of my work to make calculations which predict what they should see in their detectors.
My Typical Day:

As a theoretical physicist, I work in an office at a university. On the way to work, I stop by my favourite bakery to pick up a Zimtschnecke (this is what they call cinnamon rolls in Switzerland). The first thing I do at work, is look at the new publications from that day over a cup of coffee to see what new exciting developments have happened. I then work on my projects and calculations. This can include discussing physics at a blackboard with colleagues, writing computer code, doing calculations, thinking about how the results I obtain fit into a bigger picture, reading papers, going to seminars, sometimes preparing my own talks for conferences. There is really a lot of variety in my day-to-day work life, and the best thing is that I have a lot of freedom in deciding to work on the problems that I find most interesting!
What I'd do with the prize money:

I would purchase as many copies of the Quark Matter Card Game, or similar elementary particle physics based game, and distribute to as many schools as I can so the students can play and learn about fundamental interactions. The Quark Matter Card Game is actually four card games based on quarks and leptons, which are the elementary particles of the universe.

Candidate CV questions (extra)

Education:

I went to Archbishop Ilsley Catholic School and Sixth Form Centre in Birmingham.
Qualifications:

I did 5 AS Levels in Physics, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, and French. Then for A-levels I finished with Physics, Maths, and Biology.

Then I did an MPhys (Integrated Master) degree in Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh, before doing my doctorate in Theoretical Particle Physics at the Technical University of Munich.
Work History:

I had many small jobs as a student, mostly cleaning in school and university buildings, but also working in a bacon packing factory. After my PhD I got a job as a researcher at the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology at Durham University, and now I work as a researcher at the University of Bern in Switzerland.
Current Job:

I am a researcher in theoretical particle physics at the University of Bern, I make develop the theoretical framework and calculate predictions for colliders, such as the LHC
Employer:

Albert Einstein Centre for Fundamental Physics, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bern

My Interview