Joseph Prentice

Joseph Prentice is a Lecturer in Materials Modelling at the University of Manchester (Department of Materials), starting in January 2025. Previously, he was a Cooksey Early Career Teaching and Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (2020–2024) and a postdoc at Imperial College London (2017–2019). He holds a PhD in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Cambridge (2017) and an MPhys in Physics from the University of Oxford (2014).

Research Interests: His work focuses on computational materials modelling, particularly quantum technology (e.g., defect engineering in semiconductors like diamond) and photovoltaics (organic and perovskite materials). He develops linear-scaling DFT and quantum embedding methods to model large-scale systems, aiming to bridge theory and experiment.

Key Achievements: His PhD thesis won the 2018 IOP Sam Edwards Prize. He collaborates with experimental groups on quantum defects and photovoltaic materials, leveraging methods like LS-DFT and machine learning potentials.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Prentice Group at Manchester, advancing computational tools for materials discovery. Collaborates with Prof. Rebecca Nicholls (Oxford), Prof. Arash Mostofi (Imperial), and others.