Kieran Cowan
Postgraduate Researcher
Physics and Astronomy
I am a PhD student in the Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation (CMRI) in my final year of research after starting in 2022. My work has focused on the scattering phenomena of dark modes1 and the Kerker effect2 under the supervision of Dr Alex Powell, Professor Alastair Hibbins and Dr Simon Berry (QinetiQ). Throughout this time I have gained experience in the design and testing of samples through finite element analyser (COMSOL), then validating through fabrication and experiment. The latter primarily being using a VNA in an anechoic chamber to obtain radar cross section measurements at low GHz frequencies. Over the past 4 years I have also contributed to the CMRI by being involved in the organisation of socials and internal conferences.
During an interruption to my final year of study, I have undertaken a short-term research role funded by Royce ICP and working in collaboration with SME, Technical Composite Systems Ltd. Under the supervision of Dr Cameron Gallagher, I have used the skills developed in my PhD to perform work contributing towards the potential commercial manufacturing of metamaterials.
In 2022 I graduated from the University of Exeter with a masters degree in physics after doing a computational (DFT) theoretical project. That explored the use of 2D overlayers for enhancing a material's passive water splitting capabilities in order to obtain hydrogen.