School of Physics and Astronomy

Study hopes to help governments, regulators and health organisations improve equitable access to medicines.

A new study has mapped the private-sector network that supplies antimalarial medicines across Ghana, revealing a system shaped by a small number of powerful distribution hubs. 

The work is a unique collaboration between the School of Physics and Astronomy and various departments at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.  It forms part of a wider project on substandard medicines in Africa coordinated by Professor Kate Hampshire at Durham University.

By analysing survey data from across the country, scientists found that the network has a clear “hub-and-spoke” structure, dominated by companies based in Accra, with a secondary hub in Kumasi. Other regional centres, including Tamale and Cape Coast, play a significant smaller role in moving medicines through the system.

The study shows that antimalarial drugs typically pass through three to four intermediaries before reaching patients. In many parts of the country, pharmacies can buy from several suppliers, sometimes via multiple intermediaries, which makes the network relatively resilient if one intermediary fails. However, the quality of medicines - measured using expiry date - tends to decline as the number of intermediaries increases. This suggests that longer supply chains may increase the risk of poorer-quality products reaching patients.

Research in Edinburgh, primarily led by MPhys Computational Physics student Chia-Lin Wang, along with supervisor Professor Graeme Ackland, applied mathematical tools from network science to analyse extensive fieldwork carried out by Cape Coast researchers led by Professor Osman Adams.

The study, published in PLOS ONE, identified important differences in how influence is distributed within the market. One company stood out because it supplies a large number of customers directly, giving it a dominant position in terms of visible connections. However, another company emerged as more influential when the researchers looked at indirect influence through intermediaries, showing that power in the supply chain is not always concentrated in the businesses with the most direct customers.

The analysis also revealed differences between the experience of sellers and buyers. On the supply side, the network follows a “scale-free” or Pareto-type pattern, which is typical of a relatively open and weakly regulated market where a few sellers dominate. On the purchasing side, the network appears more log-normal, suggesting that individual buyers have less freedom and fewer meaningful choices than the number of suppliers might imply. Remote regions in northern Ghana were a notable exception: they often had fewer intermediaries, but were also more dependent on shipments from a single supplier, creating a different kind of vulnerability.

A similar study is underway in Tanzania.  Comparable self-organising and lightly regulated medicine supply networks operate in many low- and middle-income countries.

Better understanding how these networks function could help governments, regulators and health organisations improve equitable access to medicines, strengthen oversight, and reduce the circulation of substandard or falsified drugs.

Congratulations to Professor Donal O’Connell who has won the College of Science and Engineering Teacher of the Year award at the Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) 2026 Teaching Awards ceremony.

Professor O’Connell received the award in recognition of his teaching on the Quantum Field Theory course, taken by final year MPhys and MSc students. Despite being widely regarded as one of the most challenging courses in the School of Physics and Astronomy, students praised the course for being clear, engaging, and well-structured.

The EUSA Teaching Awards results announced that:

Quantum Field Theory is widely recognised as one of the most challenging courses in the School of Physics and Astronomy, yet students described it as made remarkably clear and engaging through Donal’s teaching. He restructured the course in a fresh and thoughtful way, developing original notes and materials to support understanding of even the most complex ideas. His dedication, responsiveness and deep subject knowledge created an inspiring learning environment that left a lasting impression on students.

In addition to his teaching recognition, Professor O'Connell is the recipient of an advanced grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to pursue ground-breaking research in Quantum Field Theory. This grant highlights his expertise in the subject matter, enabling him to answer student queries with authority and depth. With strength in both research and teaching excellence, he thereby enhances the learning experience for students.

Organised annually by the Edinburgh University Students’ Association, the Teaching Awards provide students with an opportunity to thank staff - from lecturers to tutors to support staff - for their hard work, whilst celebrating the best of teaching and support at the University.  

Over 2,000 nominations were received, which were reviewed by Sabbatical Officers and around 100 student volunteers. Winners were announced at a ceremony at Teviot Student Union. 

An international research team has achieved an important milestone for astrophysics. At GSI/FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) in Germany, scientists were able to measure nuclear reactions at extremely low energies for the first time, mirroring the conditions inside stars.

In the extreme environments of stars, nuclear processes often occur at very low energies. These so-called ‘sub-MeV energies’ (below one megaelectronvolt) are difficult to replicate in the laboratory because the probability of atomic nuclei interacting at such low speeds is exceptionally small. In the FAIR storage ring CRYRING@ESR, researchers were able to lower the energy available for the nuclear reaction in the center-of-mass frame of the two particles down to 403 kiloelectronvolts. This marks a new record: it is the lowest energy at which a nuclear reaction has ever been measured in a heavy-ion storage ring.

This novel experimental approach lays the foundation for decoding the formation of elements in the universe with even greater precision in the future.

The findings were recently published in The European Physical Journal A.

Dr Jordan Marsh, member of the Nuclear Physics research group, and first author of the paper said:

The biggest challenge in achieving nuclear reactions at such low energies in storage rings is the very low beam lifetime. At lower energies, ions are far more likely to be lost through atomic processes such as electron stripping, leaving fewer particles available for the reactions we want to study. Overcoming this demands both extreme-high vacuum conditions and the skill of beam operators, who create tightly focused, electron-cooled ion beams.

In their experiment, the international team investigated reactions of nitrogen ions colliding with protons, among other processes. To achieve this, an ion beam was injected into CRYRING@ESR, brought to the desired energy, and aligned with extreme precision using a so-called electron cooler. Inside the ring, the beam then intersected a cryogenic hydrogen gas target. The high-resolution measurement system CARME (CRYRING Array for Reaction Measurements) was used to detect the reaction products generated during this process. The collected data aligns perfectly with theoretical predictions, proving that the experimental method works exceptionally well.

This success, part of the FAIR Phase-0 research program, opens the door for a multitude of future experiments. Going forward, exotic atomic nuclei that play a central role in stars will also be used at CRYRING@ESR. Since CRYRING@ESR has its own ion source, further experiments will take place there later this year. The combination of high-precision storage rings and state-of-the-art detector technology will help to solve lingering mysteries in nuclear astrophysics.

Dr Marsh said:

I am particularly excited about applications to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), the process by which the light elements were formed in the first minutes after the Big Bang. At the CRYRING@ESR, we plan to study nuclear reactions involving deuterium, a key isotope in BBN which will hopefully enable us to better understand the conditions of the early Universe.

Professor Davide Marenduzzo joins the new intake of Fellows who are recognised for their commitment to advancing knowledge for the benefit of society as a whole.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) has announced its 2026 intake of Fellows. Nominated for their individual excellence in a wide range of fields, they will be joining the 1,800 current Fellows of the RSE, Scotland’s National Academy.

Professor Marenduzzo works in the area of biological physics and soft condensed matter physics.  

His interests include modelling DNA and chromatin. He uses large scale computer simulations, and collaborates with experimentalists in Edinburgh, UK and Europe. Davide is a strong supporter of interdisciplinary collaborations (most recently with the Institute of Genetics and Cancer), and plays an important role in the new Edinburgh Centre for Biomedical Physics.

He also has interests in modelling cell motility, cytoskeletal dynamics, the physics of self-propelled particles and active matter, liquid crystals and related materials. Within soft matter, he has developed large scale simulation methods to study emulsions, as well as colloid-liquid crystal composites.

The RSE was founded in 1783 and leverages the combined knowledge of its Fellowship to tackle the most pressing issues facing society, provide independent expert advice to policymakers and inspire the next generation of innovative thinkers.

Telescope unexpectedly captures comet splitting into four.

Comet K1 (whose full name is Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS)) had just passed its closest approach to the Sun and was heading out of the Solar System when the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope managed to capture K1 as it fragmented into at least four pieces, each with a distinct coma, the fuzzy envelope of gas and dust that surrounds a comet’s icy nucleus.

The odds of that happening while Hubble viewed the comet are extraordinarily small: researchers had proposed many Hubble observations to catch a comet breaking up, but these are very difficult to schedule, and previous attempts were unsuccessful.

Before it fragmented, K1 was likely a bit larger than an average comet, probably around 8 kilometres across. The team estimates the comet began to disintegrate eight days before Hubble viewed it. Hubble took three 20-second images, one on each day from 8 November to 10 November 2025. As it watched the comet, one of K1’s smaller pieces also broke up.

Hubble’s images were taken just a month after K1’s closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion. The comet's perihelion was inside Mercury’s orbit, about one-third of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. During perihelion, a comet experiences its most intense heating and maximum stress. Just past perihelion is when some long-period comets like K1 tend to fall apart.

Because Hubble’s sharp vision can distinguish extremely fine details, the team could trace the history of the fragments back to when they were one piece. That allowed them to reconstruct the timeline. But in doing so, they uncovered a mystery: Why was there a delay between the comet breaking up and the bright outbursts seen from the ground? When the comet fragmented and exposed fresh ice, why didn’t it brighten almost instantaneously?

The team has some theories. Most of a comet’s brightness is sunlight reflected from dust grains. But when a comet cracks open, it reveals pure ice. Perhaps a layer of dry dust needs to form over the pure ice and then blow off. Or maybe heat needs to get below the surface, build up pressure, and then eject an expanding shell of dust.

The team is looking forward to finishing the analysis of the gases that come from the comet. Already, ground-based analysis shows that K1 is chemically very strange — it is significantly depleted in carbon, compared with other comets. Spectroscopic analysis from Hubble’s instruments is likely to reveal much more about the composition of K1 and the very origins of our Solar System.

Astronomers are aware that long-period comets such as K1 are more likely to fragment than their short-period cousins, but it is not known why. Launching towards the end of the decade, ESA’s (European Space Agency) Comet Interceptor will be the first mission to visit a long-period comet.

Professor Colin Snodgrass of the Institute for Astronomy, and an Interdisciplinary Scientist for the Comet Interceptor mission, said:

Hubble’s chance observation of K1 will help us understand why some long-period comets split apart and give us a first view of their interiors. These new results will complement the detailed view of a long-period comet that we will obtain from ESA’s Comet Interceptor, as well as helping astronomers to select the mission’s target.

At present, the comet K1 is now a collection of fragments about 400 million kilometers from Earth. Located in the constellation Pisces, it is heading out of the Solar System, and is not likely to ever return.

A UK Government investment of £20 million for the University of Edinburgh’s Quantum Software Lab (QSL) will accelerate the development of quantum software.

The funding will also support the development of applications across sectors such as healthcare, energy, finance and cybersecurity, supporting economic growth.

Powerful computers

The programme will help enable the UK’s ambition to build and deploy powerful quantum computers at scale by developing the algorithms, software systems and verification tools needed to make these machines useful and trustworthy. 
 
The funding will support a major new four-year programme – Quantum Advantage TurboCHarger (QATCH) – led by QSL in collaboration with the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC). 

Strong partnerships

Through a full-stack feedback loop that links researchers, academic institutions and industry, QATCH will be instrumental in conducting fundamental research in algorithms and software. 

IThis will help make future quantum computers useful, reliable and deployable across real-world applications. 

National strategy

The investment forms part of the UK’s National Quantum Strategy, which sets out a ten-year vision of being the first country in the world to commit to making and deploying quantum computers at scale. 
 
A core mission of this strategy is to develop a large-scale quantum computer capable of performing around a trillion reliable quantum operations – a milestone that could unlock breakthroughs beyond the reach of today’s most powerful supercomputers.

Quantum expertise

Quantum computing is technology’s next great generational leap and will rival AI as the defining technology of the future, which could add £200 billion to the economy by 2045.  
 
While quantum hardware is important, the software that tells quantum machines what to do, and verifies that the results can be trusted, is just as crucial. QSL is one of the largest research groups in the world dedicated to quantum software. 

It brings together expertise across the full quantum computing ecosystem, including algorithms, machine learning, systems, verification, error correction and real-world applications.  

In sync

To make quantum computing genuinely useful, hardware, software and applications need to be developed together, in constant conversation. Otherwise, there is a risk that each part evolves in isolation and progress slows. 
 
This will deliver impact in everyday technology and address several grand challenges, paving the way to new capabilities and benefits for healthcare, manufacturing, greener energy, cybersecurity, finance and AI.

Research solutions

Quantum computing could help researchers model complex molecules and biological systems that are difficult to simulate with today’s computers, supporting areas such as drug discovery and biomedical research.

It may also enable more accurate modelling of catalysts, battery materials and energy systems, helping design more efficient technologies for manufacturing and the transition to low-carbon energy.

QSL will develop quantum optimisation and machine-learning tools to improve forecasting of electricity demand and optimise power flows in energy networks, working with partners including the National Energy System Operator.

Cybersecurity will also be a key area of work for QSL, developing tools to assess and mitigate future quantum threats, including post-quantum cryptography and secure communication methods for critical digital infrastructure.

Strong investment

The programme represents a cross-college initiative within the University of Edinburgh, bringing together researchers from multiple Schools across the College of Science and Engineering, including Informatics, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and EPCC.

This investment will support the recruitment of several key positions from early-career researchers through to senior tenure-track positions.  

This will be alongside new joint fellowships with industry partners to strengthen collaboration and support the next generation of quantum talent.

Government funding

The £20 million funding forms part of a £2 billion support package from the UK Government to establish the UK as a world leader in quantum, from skills and talent to research and procurement programmes.  

Image credit: Yuichiro Chino, Getty images.

Programme will help support the UK’s nuclear energy and defence requirements.

Funding has been secured to train the UK’s next generation of researchers and innovators in cutting-edge nuclear skills.

The University of Edinburgh will be working in partnership with the University of Cambridge, Lancaster University and the University of Surrey and project lead, the University of York. The Doctoral Focal Award, formerly known as a Centre for Doctoral Training, will train researchers in nuclear science, neutron and radiation transport, simulation and instrumentation development.

The Physics-Led Applications for Nuclear Engineering & Technology (PLANET) award will offer PhD projects that are co-created with industry, professional skills training, and an industrial placement. 

Both UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and industry partners contribute 40% of the funding each, with the remaining 20% coming from home institutions. Across the consortium, a total of 80 PhD students will be trained, with 20 starting each year. The first intake of PhD students is scheduled for September 2026, with four of these based at the University of Edinburgh. 

Congratulations to Dr Federica Oliva and Dr Israel Osmond who have received Royal Society of Edinburgh research grants.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh’s (RSE) Research Awards Programme opens in spring and autumn each year and aims to support Scotland’s research sector by nurturing promising talent, stimulating research in Scotland, and promoting international collaboration. In this latest round of awards, 92 research projects were selected, funding innovative research across a range of academic fields.

Enhancing photon detector research & development capability

Dr Federica Oliva

Photon detectors record single photons with exceptional precision, enabling advances in physics, astronomy, medicine, and quantum technologies. Future high energy physics experiments, operating at extremely high rates, will further challenge the performance limits of current detector technologies. New devices are needed that are more sensitive, faster, and more reliable over long periods, even in demanding conditions. This RSE grant will support the expansion of facilities in Edinburgh, enabling the testing of silicon photomultipliers for future applications in high energy physics experiments and beyond. The project will strengthen UK capability in advanced photon detection technology, drive innovation across research and healthcare, and help train future experts.

Developing technology for novel hydride superconductor characterisation

Dr Israel Osmond 

Superconductivity, the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity without resistance, has transformative potential for energy transmission and quantum computing, but it is observed at extremely low temperatures (typically below -200°C). Recently discovered hydrogen-based compounds can host superconductivity at temperatures approaching 0°C, but require millions of atmospheres of pressure to stabilise the hydrogen networks beneficial to superconductivity.

Achieving these required pressures requires diamond anvil cells (DACs), where samples are compressed between the tips of two opposing diamonds. This RSE grant will produce bespoke DACs for measuring samples at the low-temperature, high-pressure and high-magnetic field conditions to characterise novel hydride superconductors.

UK scientists open a real-time window to our vast and ever-changing Universe.

UK astronomers are providing public real-time updates on the changes in our Universe, be it exploding stars, belching black holes, or asteroids cruising through our solar system.

The UK-developed software system, Lasair, has been created by a team from the University of Edinburgh, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Oxford, to filter millions of events from the Rubin Observatory alerts stream, unlocking new scientific opportunities faster than ever before.

More than a decade in development, Lasair is one of a handful of Rubin data brokers. As a specialist in detecting transient events, it will uncover explosions of stars in distant galaxies that can tell us about the origin of the elements, the expansion of the Universe and the complex physics of black holes.

Lasair will ingest, process, and filter millions of astronomical alerts from the data that Rubin will capture during its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). This will enable scientists to focus on significant changes in the sky, from supernovae, variable stars, and gamma-ray bursts to black holes eating stars, and asteroids in the Solar System.

The first Rubin Observatory alerts distributed to researchers around the world were generated the night of 24 February. The alerts contained the flares of new supernovae and the flickers of stars, actively feeding black holes in distant galaxies, and asteroids cruising through our Solar System.

A deluge of data

Every night, powerful computers in the UK will help to crunch the huge influx of data captured by the world’s largest digital camera before serving it up to the science community through the Lasair web portal. The computers that run Lasair are part of a wider data facility constructed on IRIS, a network of powerful, digital research infrastructure for priority astronomy, particle physics, and nuclear physics in the UK. It provides the technology that astronomers around the world will use to unlock the secrets from Rubin. Over the next 10 years, UK scientists will use powerful supercomputers to analyse around 10 million images, captured by the Observatory as part of LSST, identifying and measuring billions of stars and galaxies – most of which have never previously been detected.

Dr Roy Williams of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh has been the lead developer for Lasair for over a decade. He said:

Lasair is a platform to enable custom filtering: each user imagines and creates their own filter. Most nights there will be a massive flow of data that Lasair will strain through those filters, and we hope this flexibility will allow users to find new and unexpected discoveries from this glorious deluge.

Sophisticated software

Professor Bob Mann, Professor of Survey Astronomy at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, is the Project Leader for UK participation in the Rubin LSST. He said:

The Lasair alert broker is one of the important contributions that UK astronomers are making to the Rubin LSST. Over the course of a decade, the Lasair team have used data from simulations and a precursor sky survey to develop a sophisticated system that will enable astronomers to detect instances of rare time-varying celestial phenomena of different kinds within the deluge of data that will flow from Rubin. Today marks a major milestone for them and the start of an exciting decade of science for astronomers in the UK and beyond.

Lasair is part of a multi-million-pound investment by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), which is enabling the UK to participate in the groundbreaking Rubin LSST. Across 36 research institutions in the UK, researchers and software developers are addressing scientific and technical challenges that will enable astronomers to make discoveries within the multi-Petabyte dataset that will be captured by the Rubin Observatory over the next 10 years.

The beginning of scientific alerts is one of the last major milestones before Rubin Observatory begins its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) this year.

Congratulations to the four winners of the inaugural School of Physics and Astronomy Public Engagement Awards.

The School of Physics and Astronomy is proud to announce the winners of its inaugural Public Engagement Awards, recognising outstanding efforts to benefit the School or the communities we serve.

The awards celebrate staff and students who have demonstrated creativity and commitment in sharing physics - whether through digital media, festivals or community partnerships.

Award winners

The Public Engagement Award Winners 2026 are:

• Mia Belle Parkinson - PhD student 
• Ellie Bishop – PhD student
• Dr Miquel Nebot-Guinot – PDRA
• Dr Cheryl Patrick – STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow

The winners were announced at a School Forum, and certificates were presented by the Head of School, Professor Philip Best.

In addition to the four winners, the panel also recognised outstanding public engagement activity from the Euclid Space Telescope team, the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics, and the National Biofilms Innovation Centre.

Professor Philip Best said:

These awards recognise colleagues who dedicate their time and creativity to making physics accessible, relevant and inspiring to external audiences. Their work is immensely valuable to ensuring our research has impact beyond academia, and their efforts strengthen our relationship with the wider community and inspire future generations.

Public engagement contributions and activities 

Mia Belle Parkinson 

Mia’s has shared her passion for science on BBC’s The Sky at Night and in the Daily Mail. She has worked as scriptwriter and narrator for SpaceTV—a role that earned her a 2024 VOX Award nomination for ‘Best Human Performance in E-Learning/Medical Narration’.

She fosters scientific dialogue as the host of The Tartan Tardigrade podcast, interviewing global experts in the field, as the Editor-in-Chief of the Astrosociological Insights Forum, and as the published author of Our AstroLegacy, an insightful read on discovering our place in the universe. She also creates educational space science content on social media.

Ellie Bishop 

Ellie’s outreach involvement includes work with Remote3 (building and programming LEGO mars rovers which are sent to complete challenges at the Boulby Underground Laboratory) where she has acted as mentor and leads programming workshops at events around Scotland.

She was elected LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) UK Outreach Coordinator in 2024, a role which included organising the Underground Dark Matter Searches UK exhibition stand at New Scientist Live - featuring a walk-in dark matter detector.

Dr Miquel Nebot-Guinot 

Miquel led the Edinburgh contribution to the commissioning of an experimental neutrino physics display (DUNE- UK) at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition 2024. With the help of neutrino-group colleagues, he brought this exhibit to the Edinburgh Science Festival 2025 and to the CERN’s 70^th anniversary UK celebration in Edinburgh. More than 1,000 people visited to find out about the work. The exhibition is now being used for other outreach activities and at science festivals across the UK.

Dr Cheryl Patrick

Cheryl’s main public engagement project has been through the creation of physics board games to teach and inspire school children about particle physics. The games have been taken to CERN’s 70^th anniversary event, outreach events, and local schools.

Cheryl has been working on developing the game Quark Quest, which is designed to cover the Scottish Highers Standard Model curriculum into a product that can be provided to schools. Her goal is to make this accessible to all students and teachers across Scotland.

Looking ahead

The School continues to encourage and support colleagues to embed public engagement within their research and teaching, and recognises the efforts of many other students and staff in public engagement endeavours.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners and nominees for their dedication to sharing physics.