media

Below are links to some of my lectures on YouTube, as well as media links to research highlights and other stories.

selected presentations on YouTube

skyrmionic hopfions: realising particle-like topologies in structured light invited lecture at workshop “Spin textures: Magnetism meets Plasmonics” SPICE Centre, Mainz, Germany 2024

what is topological design? Christmas lecture with CDT PhD students Amy Tansell and Niall Rodgers, IoP West Midlands 2023

skyrmionic hopfions: realising particle-like topologies in structured light invited lecture at “Topological Methods in Mathematical Physics” Erice, Sicily 2022

unweaving the rainbow: properties of classical light invited lecture at “The Nature of Light“, Oxford 2022

topology in shades: polarization geometry of crystals and the blue sky GeoTop-A online seminar 2018

knots in physics smoke ring demonstration, with Keith Alexander from public lecture, Orkney Science festival 2015

(liquid) crystals and topological optics invited lecture at I-CAMP Summer school on Liquid Crystals, Cambridge 2013

knotting nodes of light KITP Colloquium, Santa Barbara 2012

selected research in the news

• skyrmions: fundamental particles modeled in a beam of light [particle-like topologies in light (2021)] physics.org, techexplorist, optica highlights of 2021

• shaping caustics into propagation-invariant light (2020) optica highlights of 2020

• skyrmions could provide next-generation data storage [two-dimensional skyrmion bags in liquid crystals and ferromagnets (2019)] physics world, phys.org, University of Bristol

• scientists find holes in light by tying it in knots [reconstructing the topology of optical polarization knots (2018)] livescience

• new research shows that proteins are ‘virtually’ knotted [proteins analysed as virtual knots (2017)]

• knots in chaotic waves    [vortex knots in tangled quantum eigenfunctions (2016)]  eurekalert

• tying light in knots [isolated optical vortex knots (2010)] livescience

• fingerprints in the sky described by “beautiful mathematics” [polarization singularities in the clear blue sky (2004)]

selected other news

• the butterfly effect: a visualisation of our mental health in the wake of the pandemic [CDT student in topological design origami public art exhibit, (2022)]

• putting a spin on light: from Poynting to knotting [inaugural lecture, University of Birmingham (2018)]

• Bristol theory group PhD thesis on applied topology published in Springer series [Sandy Taylor PhD thesis (2017)]

• a fortnight of Bristol topological presentations – from Orkney to China [presentations related to SPOCK research, including Orkney science festival (2015)]

• £1.7m Leverhulme award for Bristol-Durham knot theory collaboration [SPOCK programme grant (2014)]

• University of Bristol faculty of science students’ award for teaching (2013)

• University of Bristol teaching ‘rising star’ award (2012)

• tying knots with light [Rachel Won’s Nature Photonics News and Views on “isolated optical vortex knots” (2010)]