I carried out my doctoral research at the University of Oxford (2000-2004) on
on the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment under the supervision of
Dr Steve Biller.  SNO utilises a unique heavy water target to measure the flux
of neutrinos from the Sun through two different interactions. The
charged-current interaction is sensitive only to electron-type neutrinos whilst
the neutral-current interaction is equally sensitive to all active neutrino
types (electron, muon and tau). A direct comparison of the fluxes measured
through these two interactions has solved the long-standing "Solar Neutrino
Problem" and confirmed that the neutrino is a massive particle that can
"oscillate" or change from one type to another.

The main focus of my work was a detailed analysis of the energy spectrum of
solar neutrinos which can be measured through the charged-current interaction. I
presented the first measurement of the electron neutrino energy spectrum with a
full systematic error analysis which I compared to various theoretical models
that predict distortions of the observed energy spectrum. The measured spectrum
is in good agreement with the predictions of the "Large Mixing Angle" model
favoured by other solar neutrino data.

I am now working at the University of Sussex and will soon enter the second
year of my PPARC postdoctoral fellowship on the COBRA double beta decay
experiment. COBRA uses CdZnTe semiconductor detectors to search for these rare
decays, in particular "zero-neutrino double beta decays" (0nuBB) which have not
yet been observed. A positive measurement of 0nuBB would provide information on
the fundamental nature of neutrinos and also give a measurement of the
neutrino mass. In addition to work on the design, construction and simulation
of a new proto-type of the COBRA experiment, I am working on analysis of
existing COBRA data to provide current limits on double beta decay half-lives.

( Jan 2007)