Dr P R Knights

Summary

Patrick’s research activities focus on direct dark matter detection, currently working in the NEWS-G and MIGDAL experiments. The particle nature of dark matter remains an open question, although its presence is apparent from its gravitational effects on the universe.

Patrick is an expert in direct dark matter detection techniques, ultra-radiopure methods, detector instrumentation, and experiment simulation. He is the run coordinator of the NEWS-G experiment and has expertise in gaseous detector instrumentation, developing sensors employed by NEWS-G and spherical proportional counters. He also designed and runs the ultra-pure copper electroforming facility at the Boulby Underground Laboratory – the UK’s deep underground science facility. Patrick's research also explores future NEWS-G experiments and hosting a next-generation detector, DarkSPHERE, at Boulby. In the MIGDAL experiment, Patrick is actively involved in the search for a rare process – the Migdal Effect – whose observation would have wide-reaching implications for light-dark matter searches.

Patrick completed his PhD jointly at the Universite Paris-Saclay and University of Birmingham working in NEWS-G. More recently, he was awarded the Institute of Physics, Astroparticle Physics Early Career 2023 Prize.