University researcher lands prestigious role at CERN

05 Feb 2016

Dr Alexander Oh to lead international experts as they record collisions from the Large Hadron Collider

Dr Alexander Oh, Royal Society University Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow, in the School of Physics and Astronomy has been appointed as Run Coordinator for the ATLAS Experiment at CERN, in Geneva.

The ATLAS Experiment is one of the largest and most complex scientific instruments ever constructed and is most famous for discovering the Higgs Boson in 2012.

Stefan Söldner-Rembold, Professor of Particle Physics, explains: “The prestigious Run Coordinator post coordinates the operation of the entire ATLAS Experiment which normally operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“Alexander will oversee and lead a large team of international experts who ensure the continuous and efficient operation of the ATLAS detector which records collisions from the highest-energy collider and largest scientific instrument ever built, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).”

Alexander was elected to the post in a highly selective process by the Collaboration Board, which represents the 174 collaborating institutes and about 3000 scientists. This highly important role has an extraordinary impact on the world's largest particle physics experiment and will increase the visibility and impact of the University Manchester ATLAS group and will strengthen the University’s role as major player in the field of particle physics at CERN.

ATLAS is the largest research project within the University of Manchester’s Particle Physics group, which has recently been awarded a £4M grant to continue its world-leading research in this field.

Alexander's appointment as Run Coordinator will begin in March 2016, first as Deputy, and then taking over as Run Coordinator from March 2017 to February 2018.