
- 2015-date: Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
- 2007-2022: Royal Society Research Professor
- 1995-2015: Professor of Natural Philosophy, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh
- 1992-1995: University Lecturer, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
- 1989-1992: University Assistant Lecturer, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
- 1988-1989: Royal Society University Research Fellow, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
- 1985-1995: Junior Research Fellow (1985-1989), Teaching Fellow (1990-1995), Trinity College Cambridge
Research
Mike is a member of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. He heads the Soft Matter research group. His current research interests include: flow of colloids, polymers, emulsions, gels and other soft materials; shear-thickening and rheology in dense suspensions; dynamics of soft glasses; flow of liquid crystals; general theories of active matter; cellular locomotion; phase ordering in active and passive systems; statistical mechanics of active particles; and numerous other topics. He recently completed an ERC Advanced Grant called ADNeSP: Active and Driven Systems, Nonequilibrium Statistical Physics.
Prizes and Awards
- 2021: International Member, US National Academy of Sciences
- 2019: International Member, US National Academy of Engineering
- 2016: Bingham Medal, US Society of Rheology
- 2013: Weissenberg Award, European Society of Rheology
- 2009: Dirac Medal and Prize, Institute of Physics
- 2009: Gold Medal, British Society of Rheology
- 2007: Fellow of the Royal Society (London)
- 2005: Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- 1996: Fellow of the Institute of Physics
- 1994: Prix Franco-Britannique (Paris Academy of Sciences)
- 1991: Maxwell Prize and Medal, Institute of Physics
Publications
Dynamic clustering and re-dispersion in concentrated colloid-active gel composites
          – Soft Matter  
  
          (2019)  
  
          15,   
  
          6896  
  
          (doi: 10.1039/c9sm01249d)  
  
  Competing chemical and hydrodynamic interactions in autophoretic colloidal suspensions
          – Journal of Chemical Physics  
  
          (2019)  
  
          151,   
  
          044901  
  
          (doi: 10.1063/1.5090179)  
  
  Conching chocolate is a prototypical transition from frictionally jammed solid to flowable suspension with maximal solid content
          – Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A  
  
          (2019)  
  
          116,   
  
          10303  
  
          (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1901858116)  
  
  Shear-Induced First-Order Transition in Polar Liquid Crystals
          – Physical Review Letters  
  
          (2019)  
  
          122,   
  
          088004  
  
    
  Optimizing active work: Dynamical phase transitions, collective motion, and jamming.
          – Phys Rev E  
  
          (2019)  
  
          99,   
  
          022605  
  
          (doi: 10.1103/physreve.99.022605)  
  
  From bulk to microphase separation in scalar active matter: A perturbative renormalization group analysis
          – Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment  
  
          (2018)  
  
          2018,   
  
          123208  
  
          (doi: 10.1088/1742-5468/aaf321)  
  
  Cluster Phases and Bubbly Phase Separation in Active Fluids: Reversal of the Ostwald Process
          – Physical Review X  
  
          (2018)  
  
          8,   
  
          031080  
  
          (doi: 10.1103/PhysRevX.8.031080)  
  
  Dynamic Vorticity Banding in Discontinuously Shear Thickening Suspensions.
          – Physical Review Letters  
  
          (2018)  
  
          121,   
  
          108003  
  
    
  Self-Assembly-Mediated Release of Peptide Nanoparticles through Jets Across Microdroplet Interfaces.
          – ACS applied materials & interfaces  
  
          (2018)  
  
          10,   
  
          27578  
  
          (doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b09511)  
  
  Shear reversal in dense suspensions: The challenge to fabric evolution models from simulation data
          – Journal of Fluid Mechanics  
  
          (2018)  
  
          847,   
  
          700  
  
          (doi: 10.1017/jfm.2018.279)  
  
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