About
I studied Physics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1982-86) and did my PhD at CERN (1987-92). After a CERN Research Fellowship (1994-96) and a PPARC Advanced Research Fellowship (1997-2001) I was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Physics in 2002, and I am Professor of Experimental Particle Physics since 2014. I was awarded CERN Scientific Associateships in 2017-18 and again in 2024-25. I have served as Head of Department of Physics in the University.
I am member of the 2023 US P5 panel https://usparticlephysics.org; founding chair of the Experiments Cost Scrutiny Group at the FAIR facility in Germany https://fair-center.eu (2017, ongoing); and previously the chair of the Resources Scrutiny Group for the LHC experiments at CERN (2013-2017). I have been member of the CERN SPSC, the STFC PPGP and other national and international advisory and oversight committees.
As spokesperson of CERN NP04 I delivered the ProtoDUNE single phase TPC in 2018. I managed the NP04 phase II run in 2024 on-site at CERN. The about 1 kton liquid argon TPC demonstrated the technologies (cryostat, cryogenic system, charge and scintillation light readout, DAQ etc) that will be deployed in the 17 kton FD1-HD detector of DUNE 1 mile underground to elucidate the mysteries of neutrinos https://lbnf-dune.fnal.gov. I am a founding member of DUNE and member of the Executive Board.
In 2004 I established the Liverpool Neutrino group which currently comprises five academics plus researchers, engineers, technical staff and graduate students. We carry out our research in Japan (T2K, Hyper-K), USA (DUNE, SBND), and BUTTON at the Boulby underground facility. As T2K-UK Project manager I delivered the Near Detector ECAL, as well as front end and back end readout electronics, the high power proton target for the J-PARC neutrino facility, and the near detector integration. I was ND280 Analysis Coordinator in the years around T2K startup. T2K made the first observation of electron neutrinos in a man-made muon neutrino beam. Our collaborator Takaaki Kajita received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2015.
Previously, in the BABAR experiment at SLAC (USA) I contributed directly in the discovery of CP Violation in the B meson system (2001) which resulted in the 2008 Nobel Prize award to Kobayashi and Maskawa. In the same programme I developed a novel method for measuring the Unitarity Triangle angle alpha. I was convener of physics groups, chair of the Speakers Board, and member of the Executive Committee. Before that I studied fundamental symmetries (CP, T, CPT) with neutral kaons a the CPLEAR experiment at CERN.
I have supervised about 25 PhDs. Three of my students were awarded CERN Research Fellowships and one won a Royal Society URF.
Funded Fellowships
- PPARC Advanced Research Fellowship (Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, 1996)
- CERN Fellowship (European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1993)