Professor Paul McKenna
Deputy Associate Principal
Physics
Personal statement
Paul McKenna is Deputy Associate Principal (Research & Knowledge Exchange). He leads activity in the areas of Research and Knowledge Exchange, with associated roles aligning with the University’s Postgraduate Research portfolio and Researcher Development. He was Vice Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science from September 2021 to January 2023 and Head of the Department of Physics from August 2018 to August 2021.
Prof. McKenna’s research focuses on ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions, including the development and application of laser-driven particle and radiation sources, plasma optics and photonics, and high field science.
He is a member of EPSRC's Capital Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team since 2017 and a former member of STFC's Science Board (2017-20). He holds scientific advisory roles for several international high power laser facilities (e.g. the Program Advisory Committee for the Extreme Light infrastructure-Nuclear Physics facility) and held a visiting position at the Central Laser Facility at Harwell. He was an EPSRC Leadership Fellow from 2012-17 and was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2021.
Prize And Awards
- High Power Laser Science and Engineering Outstanding Contribution Award
- Recipient
- 1/10/2023
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Recipient
- 30/3/2020
Publications
- Characterization and automated optimization of laser-driven proton beams from converging liquid sheet jet targets
- Glenn G D, Treffert F, Ahmed H, Astbury S, Borghesi M, Bourgeois Nicola, Curry C B, Dann Stephen JD, Diiorio S, Dover Nicholas, Dzelzainis T, Ettlinger Oliver, Gauthier Marie-Frederique, Giuffrida L, Gray Ross, Green J S, Hicks G S, Hyland C, Istokskaia V, King Martin, Loughran B, Margarone D, McCusker O, McKenna Paul, Najmudin Zulfikar Z, Parisuaña C, Parsons P, Spindloe Christopher, Streeter Matthew, Symes Dan, Thomas AGR, Xu N, Glenzer S H, Palmer C A J
- Physical Review Research (2025)
- Tuneable harmonic frequency combs via dual-beam or structured-target laser-solid interactions
- Trines R M G M, Schmitz Holger, King Martin, McKenna Paul, Bingham Robert
- Physical Review Research (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1103/j531-q3tk
- Input to the European strategy for particle physics : strong-field quantum electrodynamics
- Sarri G, King B, Blackburn T, Ilderton A, Boogert S, Bulanov S V, Bulanov S V, Di Piazza A, Ji L, Karbstein F, Keitel C H, Krajewska K, Malka V, Mangles S P D, Mathieu F, McKenna P, Meuren S, Mirzaie M, Ridgers C, Seipt D, Thomas A G R, Uggerhøj U, Vranic M, Wing M
- The European Physical Journal Plus Vol 140 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-07057-7
- Observation of quantum effects on radiation reaction in strong fields
- Los E E, Gerstmayr E, Arran C, Streeter M J V, Colgan C, Cobo C C, Kettle B, Blackburn T G, Bourgeois N, Calvin L, Carderelli J, Cavanagh N, Dann SJD, Di Piazza A, Fitzgarrald R, Ilderton A, Keitel CH, Marklund M, McKenna P, Murphy C D, Najmudin Z, Parsons P, Pattathil R, Symes D R, Tamburini M, Thomas A G R, Wood J C, Zepf M, Sarri G, Ridgers C P, Mangles S P D
- Nature Communications (2025)
- ARISE : an algorithm for rapid ion spectrum extraction enabling real-time optimisation in high-repetition-rate laser-driven ion acceleration
- Torrance Ben, McQueen Christopher, Wilson Robbie, Alderton Matthew, Dolier Ewan, Peat Romero Maia, Nayli Radhika, King Martin, Gray Ross, McKenna Paul
- High Power Laser Science and Engineering, pp. 1-12 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2025.10083
- A neural network-based synthetic diagnostic of laser-accelerated proton energy spectra
- McQueen Christopher JG, Wilson Robbie, Frazer Timothy P, King Martin, Alderton Matthew, Bacon Ewan FJ, Dolier Ewan J, Dzelzainis Thomas, Patel Jesel K, Peat Maia P, Torrance Ben C, Gray Ross J, McKenna Paul
- Communications Physics Vol 8 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-025-01984-8
Professional Activities
- Invited Talk - Queens University Belfast Sir Harrie Massey Colloquia
- Speaker
- 21/5/2025
- Invited Talk at the Frontiers in Plasma Physics and Technology (FPPT-11) International Conference
- Speaker
- 5/5/2025
- Frontiers in Plasma Physics and Technology (FPPT-11) International Conference
- Participant
- 5/5/2025
- Laser-Plasma Accelerators Workshop (LPAW 2025)
- Participant
- 13/4/2025
- A laser-driven ion beamline at SCAPA
- Contributor
- 8/4/2025
- Invited Talk at the Cockcroft Institute Scientific Advisory Committee meeting 2025
- Speaker
- 2/2025
Projects
- Cultures of Collaborative Research in a Socially Progressive Technological University
- McDonald, James (Principal Investigator) Bedford, Tim (Co-investigator) Compton-Daw, Emma (Co-investigator) Connolly, Patricia (Co-investigator) Grealy, Madeleine (Co-investigator) Mahn, Churnjeet (Co-investigator) McKenna, Paul (Co-investigator) Graham, Angela (Researcher) Salamon, Katrina (Researcher) Sin, I Lin (Researcher) Weikum, Maria Katharina (Researcher) Wells-Holland, Chris (Researcher)
- 01-Jan-2026 - 31-Jan-2026
- Relativistic Plasma Optics for Ultraintense Structured Light Generation: Dstl contribution to ETT Hub PhD studentship
- McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
- 31-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2029
- UDLA 2527 University of Strathclyde
- McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2031
- ALC Programme Development Studentship: Machine learning-based synthetic diagnostic and surrogate model of laser-accelerated ions
- McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2029
- UKRI2005: DA EPSRC IDLA - University of Strathclyde 2025
- McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2030
- UKRI3050 DA EPSRC university doctoral landscape award additional funding 2025 - University of Strathclyde
- McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2026
Contact
Professor
Paul
McKenna
Deputy Associate Principal
Physics
Email: paul.mckenna@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 5712