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 was member of the 2023 US P5 panel https://usparticlephysics.org. I am the founding chair of the Experiments Cost Scrutiny Group at the FAIR facility in Germany https://fair-center.eu (2017, ongoing); and I was previously 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, one mile underground at SURF (SD, USA) 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), China (JUNO), 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 the 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, and all collaborators were jointly awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
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 at the CPLEAR experiment at CERN (PS195). My PhD Thesis was the first direct observation of the time-dependent decay rate asymmetry between initially tagged neutral kaons and anti-kaons to two charged pions. I was also a main analyst in our first observation of Time-reversal violation, the first observation of quantum entanglement (EPR paradox) with massive particles, and tests of quantum coherence near the Planck scale and the equivalence principle of general relativity.
I have supervised more than 25 PhDs. Three of my students were awarded CERN Research Fellowships and one won a Royal Society URF.
Funded Fellowships
- PPARC Advanced Research Fellowship (Science Technology Facilities Council (STFC), 1997 - 2002)
- CERN Research Fellowship (European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1994 - 1996)