Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
Paul McKenna is Deputy Associate Principal (Research & Knowledge Exchange). He leads activity in the areas of Research and Knowledge Exchange, with associated roles aligning with the University’s Postgraduate Research portfolio and Researcher Development. He was Vice Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science from September 2021 to January 2023 and Head of the Department of Physics from August 2018 to August 2021.
Prof. McKenna’s research focuses on ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions, including the development and application of laser-driven particle and radiation sources, plasma optics and photonics, and high field science.
He is a member of EPSRC's Capital Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team since 2017 and a former member of STFC's Science Board (2017-20). He holds scientific advisory roles for several international high power laser facilities (e.g. the Program Advisory Committee for the Extreme Light infrastructure-Nuclear Physics facility) and held a visiting position at the Central Laser Facility at Harwell. He was an EPSRC Leadership Fellow from 2012-17 and was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2021.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Optimisation and control of laser-driven radiation sources using machine learning
STFC Science and Technology Facilities Council
1/10/22 → 31/03/26
Project: Research - Studentship
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STFC Lancaster Cockcroft 2022 DTP - Christopher McQueen
STFC Science and Technology Facilities Council
1/10/22 → 30/09/26
Project: Research - Studentship
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Perspectives on laser-plasma physics in the relativistic transparency regime
King, M., Wilson, R., Bacon, E. F. J., Dolier, E. J., Frazer, T. P., Goodman, J., Gray, R. J. & McKenna, P., 16 Jun 2023, In: The European Physical Journal A. 59, 6, 17 p., 132.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile10 Downloads (Pure) -
Automated control and optimization of laser-driven ion acceleration
Loughran, B., Streeter, M. J. V., Ahmed, H., Astbury, S., Balcazar, M., Borghesi, M., Bourgeois, N., Curry, C. B., Dann, S. J. D., DiIorio, S., Dover, N. P., Dzelzanis, T., Ettlinger, O. C., Gauthier, M., Giuffrida, L., Glenn, G. D., Glenzer, S. H., Green, J. S., Gray, R. J., Hicks, G. S., & 15 others , 15 May 2023, In: High Power Laser Science and Engineering. 11, 9 p., e35.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus)24 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Data for: "Theoretical and Computational Studies of the Weibel Instability in Several Beam-Plasma Interaction Configurations"
Davidson, C. (Creator), Sheng, Z. (Contributor), McKenna, P. (Contributor) & Wilson, T. (Contributor), University of Strathclyde, 22 Mar 2022
DOI: 10.15129/12a928e7-f652-4081-a3e9-d095f41506f2
Dataset
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Data for: "Optimisation of multi-petawatt laser-driven proton acceleration in the relativistic transparency regime"
Goodman, J. (Creator), King, M. (Creator), Wilson, R. (Creator), McKenna, P. (Creator) & Gray, R. (Creator), University of Strathclyde, 21 Apr 2022
DOI: 10.15129/26391870-5831-4502-9997-8e1a0d932fd3
Dataset
Prizes
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Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
McKenna, Paul (Recipient), 30 Mar 2020
Prize: Election to learned society
Activities
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Workshop on Materials, Chemistry and Biology at Extreme Conditions
Paul McKenna (Organiser)
Oct 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organiser of major conference
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Invited Talk at UK XFEL Workshop
Paul McKenna (Speaker)
May 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk