Invited Speakers

Vicky Bayliss

Vicky Bayliss is a cryogenic engineer working with the TE Magnetics team at Tokamak Energy. Tokamak Energy, is a fusion energy company; TE is a global leader in HTS magnet technology development, with cryogenics being a critical enabler that development.

Vicky's career has centred around superconducting magnet systems, including the magnetic design of low temperature superconducting undulator magnets and operation of superconducting magnet systems within the MICE experiment at the Rutherford Appleton Lab. Vicky's current role is focused on the cryogenic design of systems using High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) magnets in a variety of applications. These range in scale from benchtop systems to test systems for 3m diameter coils.

Matt Hills

Matt is a senior cryogenic engineer in the Cryogenics and Magnetics Group and STFC’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and a visiting lecturer on the Space Science and Engineering Masters course at University College London.

He completed a PhD at Mullard Space Science Laboratory in the development of magnetoresistive heat switches for the miniaturisation of Adiabatic Demagnetisation Refrigerators and has experience of designing and building cryogenic systems for a range of applications from particle physics experiments to space. Most of his current work focuses on developing small, long life cryogenic coolers – primarily for space science, such as the European Space Agency's Ariel mission, which will study the atmospheres of planets around other stars.

Alex Jones

Dr Alex Jones is a specialist in ultra-low temperature and high magnetic field equipment used in scientific research at the ISIS Neutron and Muon source, a scientific facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory run by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). He focusses on the development, maintenance and operation of a suite equipment used for cooling and applying high magnetic fields to the samples brought by users to the source. He has particular familiarity with dilution refrigerators used for cooling below 100 mK, and developed a new technique for the cooling of nanoelectronic devices during his PhD, for which he won the Spinger Thesis prize for outstanding PhD research. As part of this, he has worked extensively with a range of thermometry techniques operated to a high metrological standard in order to prove the temperatures reached, and as such is very familiar with cryogenic temperature measurement and control.