63rd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School

The 63rd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School is a two-week introductory programme at UKAEA’s Culham Campus.  It covers fundamental plasma physics and its applications, including fusion, astrophysics and low-temperature plasmas.

The Culham Plasma Physics Summer School features:

• an introduction to the basic principles of plasma physics through lectures by experts and problem-solving sessions
• sessions on fusion plasmas, solar, space and astrophysical plasmas, laser plasmas, industrial applications, and data analysis
• tours of fusion facilities like the Joint European Torus (JET) and the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) Upgrade
• social events
• opportunities for networking and detailed discussions with course lecturers

The course director is Dr Michael Fitzgerald and the co-ordinator is Andrew Wise. Lecturers are from the UKAEA, the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) together with leading European universities – all renowned experts in their fields.

Costs

Registration	Accommodation	Total
£440	£1025	£1465

Bank transfer details for payment

Sort Code: 83-27-23 

Account No. 00102300 

IBAN No. GB54RBOS83272300102300 

Swift/BIC Code: RBOSGB2L 

Funding schemes

Students based in the European Union may be able to claim travel and accommodation funding for this summer school from FuseNet. Registration before the summer school is required. Visit www.fusenet.eu/funds for more details. 

We may be able to waive the registration fee (£440) for a few students originating from countries with a Human Development Index (HDI) value below 0.85. 
Please send a CV and a supporting statement to our course co-ordinator from your academic supervisor before 31 March. Preference will be given to students from countries with the lowest HDI and most relevant background. 

We will let applicants know of the results shortly after the deadline so that they can plan their travel. 

Who can attend?

The Culham Plasma Physics Summer School is aimed at Masters and early-career PhD students. Students must be over 18 and generally will be in their final year of undergraduate or first year of post graduate study. We assume no previous knowledge of the subject, but familiarity with electromagnetism and applied mathematics at first degree level will be helpful.

Events

If you want to organise a poster session, there is no need to tell us the title in advance – just bring your poster along. For poster sessions you will need:

• a brief outline of the area in which you are working – there is no expectation of original work.
• a poster which fits the space 0.95 m wide and 1.2 m high – this is the only constraint for presentation

Note: It is NOT possible to print your poster at Culham Campus.

Timetable

We are working on finalising the timetable for the 63rd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School. Here is the timetable for the 62nd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School in 2025 as an example.

The 62nd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School 2025

Lecturer	Session	Lecturer organisation
Dr Michael Fitzgerald	Introduction	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Sir Ian Chapman	Welcome	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Mikhail Gryaznevich	History of Fusion	Tokamak Energy
Dr Michael Fitzgerald	Single Particle Motion	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Ben McMillan	Plasma Kinetic Theory	The University of Warwick
Prof. Erik Wagenaars	Low Temperature Plasmas	University of York
Dr Anantanarayanan “Chippy” Thyagaraja	Classical Transport	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Daniele Brunetti	MHD I	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Daniele Brunetti	MHD II	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Morten Lennholm	Tokamaks 101: What is a tokamak?	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Ivan Konoplev	Waves in cold plasma	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Michael Hardman	Neoclassical Transport	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Ivor Coffey	Diagnostics	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Prof. Tünde Fülöp	Runaway electrons	Chalmers University of Technology
Dr Jakob Svensson	Connecting Theory with Experiment	Seed eScience Research
Dr Colin Roach	Landau Damping	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Colin Roach	Plasma Turbulence	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Ken McClements	Plasma Instabilities	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Fernanda Rimini	Tokamaks 201: How to Drive a Tokamak	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Philippe Jacquet	Heating and Current Drive	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Mr Joe Deane	Introduction to JET	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Kate Lancaster	Inertial Confinement Fusion	University of York
Prof. Bob Bingham	Astrophysical Plasma Physics and Particle Acceleration in Plasmas	STFC (RAL), University of Strathclyde, University of St Andrews
Dr Stuart Mangles	Laser Wakefield Acceleration	Imperial College London
Dr Anantanarayanan “Chippy” Thyagaraja	Plasma Transport	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr William Morris	Tokamaks 301: Future tokamaks	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Fulvio Militello	Plasma Wall Interaction	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr James Harrison	Introduction to MAST Upgrade	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Dr Fulvio Militello	Tokamak Edge Physics	UK Atomic Energy Authority
Prof.Dr Stefaan  Poedts	Space Weather	KU LEUVEN
Dr Sui Ann Mao	Cosmic Magnetic Fields	Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
Dr Michael Fitzgerald	Burning Plasma Physics	UK Atomic Energy Authority

Accommodation

Transport

Getting to Oxford

Between Oxford and Culham Campus

Coach times

A coach will be provided for the daily return journey between Oxford and Culham Campus every weekday. Departure time is 08:30 from Oxford.

On the second Tuesday of the school, the bus will leave earlier at 08:00 for Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell.

Return time varies according to timetable. Latest return at 17:00.

On the final day of the school, the return coach will also stop at the central Oxford bus station. Students need to check out of the accommodation in the morning of the final Friday (unless staying for extra days)

On arrival

Registration will take place at the provided accommodation (the William Miller building) between 16:00 and 19:00 on the Sunday ahead of the first week. Please bring photo ID to registration as we need to issue Culham Campus passes at this time.

Students accommodated elsewhere (for example, students who live locally or who have made their own arrangements), or who arrive too late to register on the Sunday, should register at the summer school desk at Culham during the coffee and lunch breaks. Those registering on site will need to collect site passes from the Culham reception on the first Monday morning of the school (photo ID required).

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63rd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School event details

Date

Location

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Banner image: The Starry Night (1889) by Vincent van Gogh. The pattern of light and dark in this image has been shown to closely follow the mathematical structure of turbulent flow. JL Aragón et al. Turbulent Luminance in Impassioned van Gogh Paintings J Math Imaging Vis (2008) 30: 275–283.

Image credit: MOMA, The Museum of Modern Art.