Professor Nigel Mason is a distinguished academic in the field of
Molecular Physics, currently serving as a professor at the School of
Physics and Astronomy at the University of Kent. He earned his
DSc from the University of London in 2002, following his PhD
from University College London (UCL) in 1987, and a First Class
Honours BSc from UCL in 1983. His research focuses on a broad
spectrum of interdisciplinary themes within Molecular Physics, including Astrophysics and Astrochemistry, Environmental and Atmospheric Physics, Plasma
Physics and Nanolithography, and Next-Generation Radiotherapy. Central to his work is the
exploration of electron- and photon-induced fragmentation of molecules and the reactivity these
processes may induce in local media. He has authored 435 refereed publications and holds an
impressive h-index of 49. Over the period from 1995 to the present, he has secured more than
£30 million in research funding, supporting 24 postdoctoral researchers and 36 PhD students.
Professor Mason is the Chair of EUROPLANET, the largest European consortium in planetary
science, which was established as a Research Infrastructure under H2020 in 2015 with a budget
of 9.85 million Euros, renewed in 2020 with a budget of 10 million Euros. This initiative, which
involves over 100 institutions, became a legal entity as the European Society in 2018, and he
was elected its first president in 2019.In terms of teaching, Professor Mason has a rich
background in developing and delivering undergraduate and postgraduate courses. While at
UCL, he created courses on ‘Environmental Physics’ and ‘Atomic and Molecular Physics,’ as
well as laboratory courses. At The Open University, he contributed to advanced courses on ‘The
Quantum World’ and ‘Electricity and Magnetism’ at the Level 3 (final-year) level, as well as
‘The Physical World’ and ‘Practical Science’ at Level 2. He also served as the Careers Officer
and Deputy Admissions Officer at UCL, focusing on recruitment from inner London schools
and colleges. To date, he has supervised 41 PhD students to completion and employed 23
postdoctoral assistants. Professor Mason has held several leadership and administrative roles,
including as the former Head of the School of Physical Sciences at the University of Kent,
where he led a comprehensive review of research and teaching in Chemistry, Forensics, and
Physics with Astrophysics. He has also served as Director of Research for Physics and
Astronomy, Associate Dean for Research, Enterprise and Scholarship in the Faculty of Science,
and Co-chair of the Open University Research Roadmap 2020. Additionally, he has led
numerous large-scale international research consortia, including the EUROPLANET project. He
has been involved in grant panel reviews for multiple research councils, including EPSRC,
NERC, and EU panels such as H2020 and ERC, and has served on the editorial boards of
several academic journals. He has also held non-executive director positions with two
companies. In recognition of his contributions to science and public engagement, Professor
Mason was awarded an OBE in 2007. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of
Innsbruck and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP), the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSc),
and the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). He also serves as the Chief Scientific Advisor to
the Institute of Nuclear Physics (ATOMKI) in Debrecen, Hungary.
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