Caitríona Elizabeth Hastings

PhD thesis: TBC

My topic of study is active matter theory, which focuses on the abstract notion of many individual interacting ‘agents’ with interesting collective behaviour. A particularly beautiful example is the murmuration of starlings, where the interaction of individual birds with their neighbours results in striking patterns in the sky. These systems are not in thermal equilibrium, as each agent dissipates energy. Broadly this is applied to nanoscience, biology and robotics, where out-of-equilibrium dynamics frequently dominate. Furthermore, the research of naturally occurring active matter systems can inform the creation of synthetic counterparts, driving the development of new technologies.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?

During my undergraduate studies in St Andrews I particularly enjoyed the subject of condensed matter, which led me to undertake a summer project with Dr Bernd Braunecker on Quantum Swarmalators. Creating such a toy model gave me insight into the research of swarming systems – which are a famous example of active matter – and interacting oscillators such as the Kuramoto model. Upon applying to Cambridge for my doctorate, the research of Dr Anton Souslov and his group stood out to me as a fascinating area of statistical physics, and thus I am delighted to be working with them moving forward.