Miguel Martinez-Canales

About me

I was born in Pamplona (Spain) and raised in San Sebastian, a small basque seaside village known for its gastronomy, tapas and its beach. I obtained a physics MSc at the Basque Country University (UPV-EHU) in 2004, mostly oriented towards theoretical condensed matter physics.

Under the supervision of Dr. Aitor Bergara, I received a PhD in physics in January 2010, also by the Basque Country University. My PhD thesis is centered on high pressure condensed matter physics, more concretely on the possible superconductivity of hydrogen-rich materials. Two months of my PhD were unforgettably spent in SUNY Stony Brook, visiting Prof. Artem Oganov. Those two months are still the worst weather I've ever had to endure.

I moved to the UK after my PhD, in January 2010. There, I worked as a PostDoc in Prof. Chris Pickard's group in UCL (now at Cambridge) until September 2013, being mainly involved in high pressure physics. Most of my work there has been dedicated to analyse the physics and chemistry of materials at conditions that are hard or impossible to recreate in the lab today, but are seen inside giant planets.

Finally, I have been a Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh since September 2013. My aim there is to continue my theoretical high pressure work, but also engage in collaborations with the extremely strong experimental high pressure group there, and to leverage my position in the department to widen my range of skills and interests.

I'm also the proud father of 2 kids, aged 5 and 1.5 (as of 2017).