
Dr Stuart Thomson
BSc (Hons), MSc, D Phil
Current positions
Senior Lecturer
School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
My research interests lie at the intersection of applied mathematics, physics, and engineering. I develop and interact closely with table-top experiments to study how novel emergent phenomena arise in complex fluid and soft matter systems from the interplay between nonlinear dynamics, collective many-body interactions, and geometrical confinement.
Some current topics of interest include:
- Interfacial hydrodynamics and self-assembly of drops and particles
- Active and driven matter
- Interfacial robotics
- Transport phenomena
- Fluid-structure interaction
If you are a postdoctoral scholar and are interested in pursuing topics related to those listed above, the EPSRC has established a new National Fellowship in Fluid Dynamics. Details can be found here.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
The statistical physics of hydrodynamic random walkers: experiments and theory
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Engineering Mathematics and TechnologyDates
01/06/2025 to 31/05/2028
Publications
Recent publications
01/05/2026Nonequilibrium thermodynamics in driven macroscopic self-assembly
Physical Review Research
On wave-driven propulsion
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
Bidirectional wave-propelled capillary spinners
Communications Physics
SurferBot: a wave-propelled aquatic vibrobot
Bioinspiration and Biomimetics
Discrete and periodic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation for a hydrodynamic active lattice
Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

