Culham Plasma Physics Summer School

Overview

The 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.

Who can attend?

The Culham Plasma Physics Summer School is primarily for 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.

Location

The summer school is at Culham Campus, near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. Culham was set up in 1960 to provide a centre for research in plasma physics and nuclear fusion, with teams from Harwell and Aldermaston brought together under the leadership of Sir John Adams.

During this time, Culham quickly gained an international reputation for excellence, and fusion scientists from all over the world continue to work at Culham on many collaborative programmes. The design team for the Joint European Torus (JET) started work at Culham in 1974. In 1977 Culham became the host for the project – the world’s leading fusion experiment.

Culham is also the home of MAST Upgrade, one of the world’s largest projects researching the innovative spherical tokamak concept.

63rd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School – July 2026

Timetable

Here is the full timetable for the 63rd Culham Plasma Physics Summer School.

Jump to:

Monday 13 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:30am	Bus departs Oxford for Culham
9:00am	Introduction	Dr Michael Fitzgerald	UK Atomic Energy Authority
9:10am	Welcome	Dr Tim Bestwick	UK Atomic Energy Authority
9:40am	History of Fusion	Dr Mikhail Gryaznevich	Tokamak Energy
10:40am	Coffee Break
11:15am	Single Particle Motion	Dr Michael Fitzgerald	UK Atomic Energy Authority
12:55am	Lunch
2:00pm	Low Temperature Plasmas	Prof. Erik Wagenaars	University of York
3:00pm	Coffee Break
4:00pm	Bus departs Culham for Oxford
7:00pm	Welcome Dinner at St Edmunds Hall

Tuesday 14 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:30am	Bus departs Oxford for Culham
9:00am	Tokamaks 101: What is a tokamak?	Dr Morten Lennholm	UK Atomic Energy Authority
10:00am	Plasma Kinetic Theory	Dr Ben McMillan	The University of Warwick
11:00am	Coffee Break
11:35am	Single Particle Motion Problem Solving
12:55am	Lunch
2:00pm	MHD I	Dr Daniele Brunetti	UK Atomic Energy Authority
3:00pm	Coffee Break
4:00pm	Bus departs Culham for Oxford

Wednesday 15 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:30am	Bus departs Oxford for Culham
9:00am	Classical Transport	Dr Anantanarayanan “Chippy” Thyagaraja	UK Atomic Energy Authority
10:40am	Coffee Break
11:15am	MHD II	Dr Daniele Brunetti	UK Atomic Energy Authority
12:55am	Lunch
2:00pm	MHD Problem Solving
3:00pm	Poster Session
4:00pm	Bus departs Culham for Oxford

Thursday 16 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:30am	Bus departs Oxford for Culham
9:00am	Waves in cold plasma	Dr Ivan Konoplev	UK Atomic Energy Authority
10:40am	Coffee Break
11:15am	Neoclassical Transport	Dr Michael Hardman	UK Atomic Energy Authority
12:55am	Lunch
2:00pm	Diagnostics	Dr Ivor Coffey	UK Atomic Energy Authority
3:00pm	Coffee Break
4:00pm	Bus departs Culham for Oxford

Friday 17 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:30am	Bus departs Oxford for Culham
9:00am	Runaway electrons	Prof. Tünde Fülöp	Chalmers University of Technology
10:40am	Coffee Break
11:15am	Connecting Theory with Experiment	Dr Jakob Svensson	Seed eScience Research
12:00am	Lunch
2:00pm	Landau Damping	Dr Colin Roach	UK Atomic Energy Authority
3:00pm	Coffee Break
3:15pm	Plasma Turbulence	Dr Colin Roach	UK Atomic Energy Authority
4:15pm	Bus departs Culham for Oxford
8:00pm	Boat trip (Departs Folly bridge Bar and live music No food provided on boat)

Monday 20 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:30am	Bus departs Oxford for Culham
9:00am	Plasma Instabilities	Dr Ken McClements	UK Atomic Energy Authority
10:40am	Coffee Break
11:15am	Tokamaks 201: How to Drive a Tokamak	Dr Hongjuan Sun	UK Atomic Energy Authority
12:15am	Waves in Plasma Problem Solving
12:55am	Lunch
2:00pm	Heating and Current Drive	Dr Philippe Jacquet	UK Atomic Energy Authority
3:00pm	Coffee Break
3:15pm	Introduction to JET	Mr Joe Deane	UK Atomic Energy Authority
3:45pm	Tour of JET
5:00pm	Bus departs Culham for Oxford

Tuesday 21 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:00am	Bus departs Oxford for Harwell
8:55am	Welcome
9:10am	Inertial Confinement Fusion	Dr Kate Lancaster	University of York
10:40am	Coffee Break
11:15am	Astrophysical Plasma Physics and Particle Acceleration in Plasmas	Prof. Bob Bingham	STFC (RAL), University of Strathclyde, University of St Andrews
12:55am	Lunch
2:00pm	Laser Wakefield Acceleration	Dr Stuart Mangles	Imperial College London
3:00pm	Coffee Break
3:15pm	Tour of RAL
4:30pm	Bus departs Harwell for Oxford

Wednesday 22 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:30am	Bus departs Oxford for Culham
9:00am	Plasma Transport	Dr Anantanarayanan “Chippy” Thyagaraja	UK Atomic Energy Authority
10:40am	Coffee Break
11:15am	Tokamaks 301: Future tokamaks	Dr William Morris	UK Atomic Energy Authority
12:55am	Lunch
2:00pm	Plasma Exhaust	Prof. Fulvio Militello	UK Atomic Energy Authority
3:00pm	Coffee Break
3:15pm	Introduction to MAST-U	Dr James Harrison	UK Atomic Energy Authority
3:45pm	Tour of MAST-U
5:00pm	Bus departs Culham for Oxford

Thursday 23 July

Time	Event	Presenter	Presenter organisation
8:30am	Bus departs Oxford for Culham
9:00am	Tokamak Edge Physics	Prof. Fulvio Militello	UK Atomic Energy Authority
10:40am	Coffee Break
11:15am	Space Weather	Prof. Stefaan  Poedts	KU LEUVEN
12:55am	Lunch
2:00pm	Cosmic Magnetic Fields	Dr Sui Ann Mao	Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
3:00pm	Coffee Break
3:15pm	Burning Plasma Physics	Dr Michael Fitzgerald	UK Atomic Energy Authority
4:15pm	Bus departs Culham for Oxford
7:00pm	Formal Banquet at St Edmund’s Hall (Business attire)

Contact us

If you have any questions about the next Culham Plasma Physics Summer School, contact us.