Characterisation of ion and electron scale electromagnetic turbulent transport in MAST. Upgrade and STEP pedestals

I graduated from Warwick University in Maths and Physics in 2021, where I acquired an interest in fluid dynamics and, subsequently, plasma physics. I am particularly interested in turbulence and the difficulties associated with its precise definition and modelling. My undergraduate project involved investigating transitions from turbulent to laminar states in the plasma interchange model. My interest in plasma physics led me to study Fusion Energy for my MSc at University of York in 2022-23 and my final project there involved applying uncertainty quantification to the parameter space of a plasma filament model to investigate particle transport through tokamak scrape-off layers. Fusion represents an opportunity to simultaneously engage in my areas of academic interest and contribute to the development of a technology with the potential to actively benefit our society.

My research will be based at CCFE, supervised by David Dickinson from University of York and Ben Chapman-Oplopoiou from UKAEA. The aim of the project is to understand the turbulent transport of heat and particles through the pedestal region of spherical tokamaks by using the GENE gyrokinetic code. Data from MAST and MAST-U indicates that turbulence in the pedestal region is primarily driven by certain electromagnetic microinstabilities which we hope to compare using GENE and thereby characterise the dominant transport mechanisms. Once we have an understanding of how different instabilities affect pedestal transport, we aim to apply these findings to make transport predictions for future STEP pedestals.