ISIS created the Springboard Awards in 2024 to support and encourage early-career researchers to use neutrons and muons in their research. The first three winners were chosen following a competitive process. Their awards will last three years and will provide recipients with funding to present ISIS research at conferences, a case study highlighting their research and the chance to spend an extended period at ISIS, amongst other benefits.
The two other award winners who join Jennifer are Shurui Miao from the University of Oxford and William Sharratt from the University of Liverpool.
Jennifer Johnstone-Hack investigates electrochemical devices using complementary neutron and X-ray methods – for example, she has studied degradation mechanisms in fuel cells. Her current work involves applying X-ray and neutron imaging to improve component performance in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) water electrolysers - devices that split water to produce hydrogen as a clean energy source.
Collaboration is the best way to do high-quality science, and I feel that the award is an ideal platform to encourage neutron users to work together to solve challenges relating to electrochemical devices, as well as to improve communication and collaboration between researchers.”
The ISIS Neutron and Muon Source is a world-leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences. It produces intense beams of neutrons and muons that enable materials to be studied at the atomic and molecular level, offering insights that other techniques cannot. The facility provides researchers with access to a suite of instruments, each optimised for studying different properties of matter. Science at the facility spans a very broad range, from chemistry and catalysis to engineering components; cell membranes to battery materials; drug delivery mechanisms to microelectronics; geological investigations to archaeological studies. ISIS serves a community of several thousand academic and industrial researchers, from the UK and overseas.