Dr Stuart Hamilton Pirrie MSci PhD FHEA MInstP

Dr Stuart Hamilton Pirrie

School of Physics and Astronomy
Teaching Fellow, Nuclear Physics group
Undergraduate Academic Admissions Tutor

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 4676
Email
s.h.pirrie.1@bham.ac.uk
Address
School of Physics
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I am a teaching fellow at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, teaching several of our undergraduate labs and lecturing courses for both undergraduates and postgraduates, with a focus on nuclear physics, detector physics and application of tools such as Monte Carlo simulation and machine learning to problems in these fields.

My current research involves clustering in light nuclei, in particular alpha clustering, a phenomenon I am more than happy to discuss with anyone foolish enough to ask.

I am also the academic admissions tutor for physics, and am happy to be contacted regarding admissions queries or outreach in schools (either for nuclear physics or with an admissions slant).

Qualifications

  • PhD in Nuclear Physics, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 2022
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 2021
  • MSci Physics, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø 2017
  • Member of the Institute of Physics

Biography

Stuart began his higher education physics journey at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, where he developed his interest in nuclear structure physics. Following his undergraduate degree, he obtained his PhD in nuclear structure physics, also at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, investigating the cluster structure of nuclear molecules in light, neutron-rich nuclei in what his external examiner described as “the seminal work on oxygen-18”, a fact he doesn’t plan on letting the examiner in question forget about.

At the end of his PhD, he secured an academic role within the School of Physics and Astronomy as a teaching fellow, and currently is having a blast writing this brief (auto)biography in the third person.

Stuart is often involved in outreach events, such as lecturing as part of the Nuclear Physics masterclass ran digitally for school-aged children across the UK. As a PhD student, he was a regular course tutor at Villiers Park Educational Trust, a charity that aims to bring disadvantaged students into higher education through accessible residential courses.

Teaching

  • Admissions tutor for Physics and Astronomy
  • Lab lead, second year laboratory
  • Demonstrator, third year nuclear laboratory
  • Project lead, 3rd year nuclear physics group study
  • Supervisor, physics critique
  • Lecturer:
    • Temperature and Matter (Year 1)
    • Particle detectors (PGT)
    • Nuclear decommissioning (PGT)
    • Nuclear electronics (PGT)  

Postgraduate supervision

Co-supervisor of PhD students in nuclear physics.

Research

Research interests

  •   Nuclear structure physics
  •   Nuclear data
  •   Nuclear astrophysics
  •   Charged particle spectroscopy
  •   Gamma spectroscopy
  •   Alpha clustering
  •   Exotic structures in nuclei

Publications

Kristian C.Z. Haverson; Robin Smith… Stuart Pirrie et al (2024), Searching for particle-hole cluster bands in 8Be using the ISOLDE Solenoidal Spectrometer, EPJ Web of Conferences, 00012

Contributors: Jack Bishop; S. Ahn; M. Barbui; Tz. Kokalova; E. Koshchiy; C.E. Parker; S.H. Pirrie; E.C. Pollacco; B.T. Roeder; G.V. Rogachev et al. (2024), Signatures of clustering accessible with a Time Projection Chamber: TexAT,  EPJ Web of Conferences, 00007

Mikołaj Ćwiok et al.  (2023), Studies of photo-nuclear reactions at astrophysical energies with an active-target TPC, EPJ Web of Conferences, 04002

M.R. Griffiths et al. (2023), Spectroscopic Analysis of the Energy-Level Structure in Rhenium-190, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2586 012054

Marina Barbui et al (2022), α-cluster structure of Ne18, Physical Review C, 106, 054310

S. Pirrie et al (2021), Precision branching-ratio measurements in 18O, The European Physical Journal A, 57 150

S. Pirrie et al (2020), Search for evidence of rotational cluster bands in O18, Physical Review C, 102, 064315

S. Pirrie et al (2020), Measurement of the structure of potential cluster bands and absolute branching ratios of high-energy states in 18O, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1643 012155

R. Trinder et al (2020), Theragnostics - Alternative production of terbium isotopes at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø using an MC40 cyclotron, Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1643 012209

M. Griffiths et al (2020), Mass measurement of Re-190, Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, 47 085104

S. Pirrie et al. (2020), Clustering in 18O - absolute determination of branching ratios via high-resolution particle spectroscopy, SciPost Physics Proceedings, 3, 009

S. Pirrie et al. (2020), Undergraduate experiments with a 44Ti source, European Journal of Physics, 42 015805

S. Pirrie et al. (2018), A method to determine gamma branching ratios using charged particle detectors for states in 18O, AIP Conference Proceedings, 2038, 020037

Rosie Newton et al. (2017), Investigating Artefacts Associated with α Particle Interactions in Charge Coupled Devices, IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC), Atlanta, GA, USA, pp. 1-4, doi: 10.1109/NSSMIC.2017.8533021