MPLS Research Staff Forum

Chris Terry

Chris Terry is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Biology. He is a community ecologist, working towards understanding how whole communities of species will respond to climate change against a background of ongoing environmental variability using a combination of theory and lab experiments. He became a representative to be part of driving a positive agenda to improve the wider working environment of postdocs.

Adam Mulkern

Adam Mulkern is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology, studying the within-host evolution of antimicrobial resistance, particularly in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using high-throughput technologies and large-scale in-vitro evolution experiments, his work explores how genetic diversity shapes resistance development in clinical settings. He became a representative to advocate for postdocs and contribute to a supportive and inclusive research environment.

Rita Kounoudis

Rita is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences, interested in exploring the evolution of plate tectonics across space and time. Her research involves using seismology to image the internal structure of Earth’s tectonic plates and the deeper mantle. Rita serves as a research representative to advocate for postdocs and help foster an inclusive, supportive, and engaging research community.

Joseph Asplet

Joseph is a postdoc on the Department of Earth Sciences, who uses seismology to study dynamic Earth processes at a range of scales, both spatial and temporal. He has been working to develop methods to model the detection capability of different micro-earthquakes monitoring technologies for offshore CO2 storage sites. As part of this project, he installed an eight element seismic array in North Yorkshire. He is also studying how seismic anisotropy measured using signal from micro-earthquakes can be used to obtain stress orientation and magnitude in near surface rocks passively (i.e., without having to stress them out further by drilling).

Joseph is a member of the Oxford Net Zero research initiative and is secretary on the UK National Committee to the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG).

Patrick Salter

Patrick is an Early Career EPSRC Fellow working in the Department of Engineering Science, with research interests in laser manufacturing and optical microscopy. He has been active in research at Oxford for over 10 years and believes strongly in creating a positive environment for research staff in academia. He was previously chairman and one of the founding members of the Engineering Science Research Committee.

Kai Shinbrough

Kai Shinbrough is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Oxford Ion Trap Quantum Computing Group in the Department of Physics, where he works toward fast quantum gates and continuous variable quantum computing in the ion-trap platform. Kai has a wide range of experience organizing for DE&I service and labour rights for graduate students; in the RSF he aims to leverage this experience to benefit post-docs in MPLS.

James Gillanders

James is a postdoctoral researcher based in the Department of Physics. Specifically, working in the Astrophysics sub-department, and his research focuses on finding, classifying, and observing some of the most extreme and energetic stellar explosions and mergers in the Universe. James has a particular interest in neutron star mergers, as observations of these can help to advance our understanding of the production mechanism for many of the heaviest elements (such as platinum and gold). He became a representative as he feels passionately about postdoctoral researchers being well-represented and supported during their time in Oxford.

Matt Raybould

Matt Raybould is a postdoctoral researcher in the Oxford Protein Informatics Group, based in the Department of Statistics. He works in immunoinformatics, applying a combination of structural biology and statistics to understand better the inner workings of the immune system and to apply this knowledge to the development of novel medicines. He became a representative to continue the excellent work of previous committee members in raising awareness of the challenges faced by postdoctoral students.

Fergus Imrie

Fergus is a Florence Nightingale Bicentenary Fellow based in the Department of Statistics. His research is focused on developing machine learning methods and techniques for applications in medicine and drug discovery. Fergus runs The Network, a forum created to support and connect postdocs and research fellows in the Department of Statistics.

He became a representative to support ECRs beyond Statistics and foster closer connections between departments.