Samuel Humphry-Baker

Dr Samuel Humphry-Baker is an Assistant Professor in Ceramics at the Department of Materials, Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London. His research focuses on advanced materials for nuclear fusion reactors, including radiation shielding, plasma-facing components, and high-temperature structural materials. He leads a team of 2 Postdoctoral Researchers, 4 PhD students, and 3 Masters students with collaborations at UKAEA, Tokamak Energy, and H.C. Starck Tungsten.

Education:

• PhD in Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2014)
• MEng in Materials, University of Oxford (2009)

Research Interests: Degradation mechanisms of materials in extreme fusion environments, thermal-mechanical stress analysis, corrosion studies, irradiation damage mitigation, and microstructure optimization for enhanced performance in refractory metals and ceramics.

Awards:

• EPSRC Open Research Fellowship (2022)
• Imperial College Research Fellowship (2021)

Advising & Collaborations: Active in training early-career researchers through a multidisciplinary team structure. Industrial partnerships focus on nuclear energy innovation and materials manufacturing challenges.

Labs/Teams: Head of the fusion materials research group at Imperial, with dedicated labs at the Royal School of Mines, South Kensington Campus.