Ben Britton

Thomas Benjamin Britton CEng FIMMM (born 18 April 1985) is a materials scientist and engineer based at Imperial College London. He is a specialist in micromechanics, electron microscopy and crystal plasticity. In 2014 he was awarded the Silver Medal of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3), a society of which he then became a Fellow in 2016.[3][1]

Ben Britton

CEng FIMMM
Ben Britton in 2019 at Imperial College London
Born
Thomas Benjamin Britton

(1985-04-18) 18 April 1985
Other namesBMatB[1][2]
EducationMagdalen College School, Oxford
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (BA, DPhil)
Scientific career
FieldsMaterials science
Micromechanics
Deformation
Strain
EBSD[3]
InstitutionsImperial College London
ThesisA high resolution electron backscatter diffraction study of titanium and its alloys (2009)
Doctoral advisorAngus Wilkinson[4]
Websiteimperial.ac.uk/people/b.britton
"Benjamin Britton" redirects here. For the British composer, see Benjamin Britten.

Early life and education

Britton grew up in Oxford and attended Magdalen College School, Oxford. He graduated with a Master of Engineering (MEng) in materials science from the University of Oxford in 2007 where he was a student of St Catherine's College, Oxford. In 2010, he completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in materials science, specifically for an electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) study of titanium and its alloys supervised by Angus Wilkinson.[4]

Research and career

After completing his PhD, Britton spent two years in Oxford as a postdoctoral research associate studying materials for fission and fusion power.[5] He received a fellowship in nuclear research in the faculty of engineering at Imperial College London in 2012.[6] In 2015, he was appointed a lecturer in the centre for nuclear engineering at Imperial supported by a Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship establishing the "better understanding of materials to make safer reactors".[7][8] As of 2017, Britton is a senior lecturer in materials science and the centre for nuclear engineering. He is the course director of Imperial's Master of Science (MSc) program in advanced nuclear engineering and deputy director of the centre for nuclear engineering.[9]

His first PhD student, Vivian Tong, worked on zirconium alloys, and solved a longstanding issue in the zirconium manufacturing sector.[10] Britton develops high resolution microscopy techniques, including forescatter electron imaging for topographic and phase contrast.[11]

Public engagement

Britton has led outreach and engagement activity aimed at changing public perception about nuclear energy,[12] and regularly blogs about early career academic life.[2] He has appeared on the podcast Scientists Not the Science.[13] As of 2017 he serves on the executive committee of Science is Vital, a grassroots campaign formed in 2010 to combat threats to the UK's research & development (R&D) budget.[14] He is a trustee of the charity Pride in STEM, through which he was nominated for the Gay Times honours in 2017.[15][16][17] He spoke at the Institute of Physics (IOP) pride of physics celebration in August 2018.[18]

In his role as deputy director of Imperial's centre for nuclear engineering, Britton was a co-signatory of an open letter to Emmanuel Macron, urging the then-recently elected President of France to keep the nation's nuclear power plants open in order to keep carbon emissions low.[19] He has also contributed written evidence to the House of Lords about nuclear technology.[20]

Awards and honours

In 2014 Britton was awarded the IOM3 Silver Medal (Outstanding contribution to materials science, engineering and technology by individual under 30).[21] In 2016 he won one of five awards for the engineers trust young engineer of the year, being described by the Royal Academy of Engineering as one of the UK's "future engineering leaders".[22] In 2014 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM).[23]

References
  1. Ben Britton on Twitter @BMatB
  2. "Dr Ben Britton – medium/@BMatB". medium.com. Medium. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  3. Ben Britton publications indexed by Google Scholar
  4. Britton, Thomas Ben (2009). A high resolution electron backscatter diffraction study of titanium and its alloys. jisc.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). OCLC 863582584. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.547449.
  5. "Ben Britton | Materials for Fusion & Fission Power". mffp.materials.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  6. "Royal Academy of Engineering honours young engineers". iom3.org. IOM3. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  7. "RAEng Research Fellowship - Current and recent awards". raeng.org.uk. Royal Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  8. Ford, Jason (4 September 2014). "Materials study aims at improving nuclear reactor performance". theengineer.co.uk. The Engineer. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  9. "CNE staff". imperial.ac.uk. Imperial College London. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  10. "The June Wilson Award Finalist". iom3.org. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  11. Britton, T. Ben; Goran, Daniel; Tong, Vivian S. (2018). "Space rocks and optimising scanning electron channelling contrast". Materials Characterization. 142: 422–431. arXiv:1804.08754. doi:10.1016/j.matchar.2018.06.001. ISSN 1044-5803.
  12. "Imperial experts share their thoughts on Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant". imperial.ac.uk. Imperial College London. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  13. Higgins, Stuart (2018). "Season 4, Episode 59: Live at the Imperial Festival – Ben Britton (Bonus Episode)". scinotsci.com. Scientists not the Science. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  14. "About | Science is Vital". scienceisvital.org.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  15. "Our Organisation". prideinstem.org. Pride in STEM. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  16. Britton, Ben (2019). "No sexuality please, we're scientists". youtube.com. YouTube.
  17. Pink, Chris (12 July 2018). "A walk on the Pride side". Chemistry World. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  18. Anon (2018). "LGBT+ physicists celebrated at IOP Pride of Physics event". iop.org. Institute of Physics. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  19. "Environmentalists appeal to Macron for nuclear". World Nuclear News. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  20. "Nuclear research and technology: Breaking the cycle of indecision" (PDF). Parliament of the United Kingdom. 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  21. "The Institute Medals and Prizes 2014 | IOM3". iom3.org. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  22. "Royal Academy honours engineers' early career achievements - The Engineer The Engineer". theengineer.co.uk. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  23. Anon (2016). "End of year review". iom3.org. IOM3. Retrieved 29 November 2018.


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