Professor Alison Bruce - experimental nuclear physicist

Professor Alison Bruce is an experimental nuclear physicist who uses the techniques of gamma-ray spectroscopy to study the properties of exotic nuclei. A particular focus at the moment is the study of shape evolution in neutron-rich nuclei where experimental work at the Radioactive Ion Beam Facility at the RIKEN laboratory in Japan has shown that exotic zirconium nuclei retain their prolate (rugby ball) shape rather than switch to oblate (hamburger) shape which had been predicted by some theorists. These nuclei are produced in the nuclear fission process in power reactors so the results have an indirect impact on modelling of reactor control.

Professor Alison Bruce

In recent years, Alison has taken a lead role in the design, construction and commissioning of new UK-funded experimental equipment for the FAIR facility which is a unique international accelerator being built in Darmstadt, Germany.

She is currently on the board representing the users of one of the experimental programmes at the facility.

Inspiring others

Alison studied at the University of Manchester and spent time at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US and the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark before joining the University of Brighton. When she started at Brighton there were about 50 nuclear academics in the UK of which only two were female. Now the ratio has increased to approximately 15 per cent and she is proud that a high proportion of her completed PhD students are females who have gone on to careers in the nuclear industry.