The Big Picture

Bhavin takes us through his journey from Physics degree and PhD, to his role as a Senior Core Transport and Turbulent Modeller for UKAEA. 

“I kind of wanted to do fusion since I was 15, I just remember reading about some of the conditions; 150 million degrees in the reactor and like zero degrees on the edge! I thought general physics would keep my options open, and if I still wanted to do it in 4 years after my Master’s then I’d go for it! My main goal was trying to help with climate change and world energy solutions.”

Bhavin completed his undergraduate at UCL with a year abroad at the University of Toronto. “It was really cold, like minus 40 degrees at one point! It was nice to see how everything operated in a different place. It’s fun to go abroad and go to a new place, meet new people.”

“I basically immediately applied for the PhD so have gone from undergrad into leaving my postgrad as a one continuous process. I had reasons I wanted to stay in the UK and the York Plasma Institute was one of the main options, I was very, very happy that I got one of those.”

The York Plasma Institute Fusion CDT is a partnership between Durham University, University of Liverpool, University of Manchester, University of Oxford, University of Sheffield and University of York. This brings together the combination of world-leading experts and world-class facilities to create an outstanding training environment for the next generation of fusion scientists.

“I did 2 years in York and then I had the option to go down to Oxford to work at the national lab, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. That was probably a very good decision, just because I was able to, you know, network, and, meet all of the relevant people, get involved with what’s going on in the lab.  And when it came to applying for jobs it was a lot easier.”  

“I got quite lucky with my PhD, I got to design a conceptual fusion power plant, trying to determine what kind of size and shape that reactor could be. And then, on the more physics side, the type of turbulence we expect in the fusion plasma, specifically heat loss, because we’re trying to keep the plasma super hot, but turbulence kind of wiggles everything around and cools it down.These fusion plasmas are so delicate, if there was one in front of you, you could blow it out like a candle. You’re fine tuning everything, it’s very hard to maintain.” 

“I ended up handing in my PhD 3 months late, which meant I handed in on a Friday and started work on the Monday! Luckily, the first few months are relatively relaxed, I think they expect the learning curve. But if you can have a break between, I would highly recommend it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so burnt out in my life. But yeah, the relief, once you hand it in, is just incredible.”

“I started at UKAEA as a post-doc, and then after nearly 2 years I switched to a permanent position. To me there wasn’t a big transition because we’re on the theory and experimental side, there’s a lot of drive to write publications so we end up working with people from Unis basically every day so we are very close to academia.”

Day to Day

“It’s very similar to the PhD where I’m looking at what causes heat and stuff to move around, being able to model what’s happening in current reactors and in future reactors.”

“I live in London and commute to Oxford. They’re pretty flexible about how you work, especially with, like some of the theory stuff, you can just work from home if you want to. So I go in twice a week because it’s nice to go in and you get the social aspect. There are different stages of different projects so, for example, when designing experiments it’s infinitely better to be on site and talking to people running the experiments to get feedback on what’s going on. So it sort of depends, there are some days when it’s really useful to be in every day, and I’m in every day. But there are some days when you just don’t need to be.”

The Physics Connection

“There weren’t a lot of options based on fusion at University at the time, so I did what I thought was closest like electromagnetism. And I remember, I worked hard for that exam. And then, when applying for the PhD I sort of highlighted my good grade on that. The first 6 months of the PhD were taught courses to bring you up to speed and then you spend the rest of your PhD actually doing a deep dive into your particular area.”

And from Bhavin’s degree; “I’m constantly looking at equations, trying to figure out how models apply. So for me, some of the basic maths I use every day, a lot of the electromagnetism stuff. And I think the broad understanding you have is really useful. I think in our field you end up covering lots of different areas of physics, because the problem is so complicated and covers lots of different times and lengths and everything that you’re modelling. You know, things are going super super fast and really small to like large scale things that are moving really slowly. I think the nice thing about doing a physics degree is you learn how to learn, and you learn how to find information you need to know. It’s like you become very good at investigating what you need to investigate.”

Expectations

“During my PhD I was much more focused on simulation modelling whereas now, in the role, I’ve managed to pivot to doing a bit more experimental stuff. That experimental stuff for me is just like a lot of fun. It’s to each their own right, some people have gone full onto the modelling side or full onto the theory side, and they love it, and that’s great. I personally benefit from the flexibility.”

“I’m very lucky in that, I knew what I wanted to do from a young age and managed to wheel my way into a role and then a permanent position. Obviously the hard work was there. But a little bit of serendipity is always nice.”

Any Advice?

If Bhavin could give himself one piece of advice; “learn to code! I think whatever you’re doing, if you’re basically doing any sort of physics, you’re gonna use a computer, even if you’re theory based, people love to see like numerical implementations of models and stuff. So you’ll want to be able to code up what you theorise. I learnt that out of necessity during the post Doc and permanent position. I would have been so much further along, I think, if I could code like that from the beginning.”

Next Steps

Does Bhavin see himself staying in Fusion? “I enjoy my field. You get to meet lots of different people from all of Europe and America, and even Korea and Japan, which is excellent.” 

“My own view. I’ll stress my own view; Fusion may not help with climate change in the short term, I think that we’re probably a bit too slow for that. It’s like a post carbon technology is how I sort of think of it. Batteries and solar are getting cheaper and more effective, it’s great people are working on solar panels and wind turbines. And, that’s the stuff we need to get through the short term. But you know, energy demand is only going up. I think fusion can find a niche it can fill and hopefully, that will be a sizable one. It’s something that’s incredibly valuable. And also I just love my job, it’s very interesting physics.”