About me

I am a postdoctoral research assistant, specialising in particle accelerator environmental sustainability at the John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, University of Oxford. I work jointly with the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK.

I spend the majority of my research time working on evaluating the environmental impact of proposed future upgrades to the ISIS project, from construction to decommission, via a Life Cycle Assessment. In this I identify the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions of key accelerator components, I assess the carbon footprint of proposed technologies, and I consider other environmental impacts such as a raw material extraction, transport, and impacts on biodiversity. I also then work to reduce the environmental impact of building, operating and decommissioning large accelerator facilities.

I am also a member of the sustainability in HECAP+ initiative. This grassroots initiative has many ongoing projects. In March 2025 we published “Environmental sustainability in basic research. A perspective from HECAP+”, which may also be endorsed by supporters.

Outside of my research I am an advocate for equity and inclusion, I enjoy teaching, and I work towards making research and academia in general more environmentally sustainable. I am an organiser of the Sustainable High Energy Physics Workshop, a member of the Laboratory Directors Group (LDG) Working Group on the Sustainability Assessment of Accelerators, and a new member of the Oxford Physics Gender Equity Network Committee.

I completed my Ph.D. in high energy particle physics at McGill University, Montreal in 2023. In this I worked remotely at the Belle II Collaboration, Japan and collaborated in an 1000+ strong international collaboration. I also received authorship qualification for more than 60 papers from 2019-2024!

Summary

• Postdoctoral Research: The environmental impact of particle accelerators.
• Ph.D. Research: Measuring a specific decay ratio with missing energy at the Belle II experiment (a $B$ Meson Factory), Tsukuba, Japan
• Masters Research: Dark matter (axion and ALP) detection at the DEAP3600 detector, Sudbury, Canada
• Extra-curricular interests:
  • The environment and entomology
  • Equity, diversity and inclusivity in STEM
  • Practicing physics and justice
  • Teaching, tutoring and science communication
  • Volleyball, cycling, surfing, and rollerskating
  • Saxophone and piano

Contact

hannah dot wakeling at physics dot ox dot ac dot uk