Professor Robert Bowman holds a Seagate Technology / Royal Academy of Engineering Research Chair in Advanced Materials for Data Storage at Queen’s University Belfast. A native of the Isle of Mull, he obtained his BSc degree in Physics from, the then, Paisley College of Technology and his PhD from the University of Strathclyde and undertook postdoctoral work there until he joined Queen’s University Belfast in 1994 from where he also holds an MBA.
He was elected Fellow of the Institute of Physics in 2005 and held visiting professor appointment in South Korea. He has held numerous roles within the Institute of Physics including a period on the governing Council and most recently as a member of their Awards Committee and is a member of a Senior Advisory Panel of a journal published by the Institute.
He is Head of the School of Mathematics & Physics at Queen’s University Belfast (2015-2020). He is Director of the EPSRC – SFI Centre for Doctoral Training in Photonic Integration & Advanced Data Storage in collaboration with University of Glasgow and over a dozen photonics sector companies across the UK. In renewal of the programme, to 2028, the Centre includes the Science Foundation Ireland Irish Photonic Integration Centre which opens up collaborative industry aligned post- graduate research between Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
He is also a co-founder and Director of Causeway Sensors Ltd. a spinout that commercialises nanostructured photonic surfaces for therapeutic diagnostics.
Professor Bowman joined the SSAC on 1 December 2019.
