The ERC Speedmeter Proof of Principle Experiment: Is it possible to measure witha precision beyond the Heisenberg Uncertainity Principle? I obtained an 1.4 million € ERC strater grant to find out. Over the next five years we will construct the world's first Sagnac speedmeter interferometer. This will be a real challange! If you want to find out more you please see some slides here. If you are interested in joining the speedmeter team please have a look here.

Detection of Gravitational Waves: Predicted by Albert Einstein about 100 years ago, gravitational waves will allow us to examine the Cosmos in a new way and observe the most viloent events in the Universe, such as colliding black holes, exploding stars or even the aftermath of the Big Bang. Instruments like GEO600, LIGO and Virgo measure km-long test ranges to an incredible  precision of 1000th of a proton diameter to discover these elusive waves.

Global Young Academy I am a member of the Global Young Academy. As the voice of young scientists around the world the Global Young Academy provides a rallying point for outstanding young scientists from around the world to come together to address topics of global importance and the role of science in creating a better world. The 200 members, are leading young scientists from 58 countries and all continents. I am a project leader of the 'Invisble Worlds', an collaborative project of the Global Young Academy and Joint Research Center of the European Commission.

Smart Charging for Portable Electronic Devices: How can you and I help mitigating power fluctuations from renewable energy sources and by that stabilise our electricity grid? We have developed the first smart charging laptop based on micro-controllers and software algorithms. Using this technology it is possible to shift not urgently required energy consumption (like charging your laptop battery for instance during) to periods when there is a energy surplas in the grid. If you are interested to read more than please have a look at our IEEE paper (accepted) or this Technology Review article.

The Grid 2025 Challenge: Many countries target covering a high fraction of their electricity production by renewable energy sources. Since the availability and out of many renwable energy sources fluctuate in time, the integration of renewables into a stable electricity grid poses a challange. The Grid 2025 Challenge provides a simulated data set of a UK Grid made up of 100% renewable energy (50% Wind, 50% Solar), which can be used as bench mark to compare various demand side control and storage techniques and to evaluate their benefit for the grid.

GEO Sensing and Control Group I am chairing the sensing and control group of the GEO600 collaboration. Workshops of this group usually take place several times a year. We cover a wide spectrum of activities from tutorials, traditional presentations and hands-on activities. You find out more on our wiki.

LIGO-3 upgrades The Advanced LIGO gravitational wave detectors currently underconstruction are expected to ensure the first direct detection of gravitational waves from astrophysical objects. One of our focii is to determine how to upgrade these instruments to further enhance their sensitivity and transform them to observatories, 'seeing' gravitational wave signals on a monthly to weekly base. I was chosen to head one of three design teams, developing plans for these upgraded detectors. If you want to find out more please have a look at these overview slides.

Einstein Telescope The Einstein Telescope is an FP7 funded design effort for a european third generation gravitational wave observatory, consisting of 3 underground interferometers with and arm length of each 10km. Over the past years I have been involved in the sensitivity studies and the top level design of ET. If you are interested to read more about my ET realted work have a look at the following articles: ET-D, ET-C and ET-B.

The Young Academy of Scotland I am a member of the Royal Scociety of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland (YAS). Some of the activities I have contributed to are the "Question for Europe" and "Research the Headlines". If you want to find out more about the various working groups and activities of the YAS please visit our webpage here.

AEI-10m Prototype Interferometer The Albert-Einstein Institute in Hannover hosts the AEI-10m Prototype Interferometer. This experiment aims to investiagte various techniques to surpass the Standard Quantum Limit of Interferometery. Over the past years I have been working on various aspects of the AEI-10m interferometer, such as the interferometer confi-guration (article) and ways to reduce the thermal noise of the test masses (article1, article2). If you want to find out more visit the AEI-10m webpage.

Stiff Photons + Other Faboulus Optics Concepts: How can one make photons stiffer than diamond? This and other intriguing interferometry techniques we investigate in the Glasgow 10m prototype interferometer. Some of the recent experimental results can be found in these articles: Waveguide Coatings Demonstration, LG33 mode in 10m cavity. If you are interested to join our team of postdocs and Phd students please contact us.