The Thomas Young Centre celebrates its 15th year anniversary

The Thomas Young Centre for Theory and Simulation of Materials is a dynamic and interdisciplinary alliance of London researchers.

The centre is named after the British polymath Thomas Young (1773-1829), who made significant scientific and technological contributions to a vast range of fields.

On Monday 9 November, the Thomas Young Centre marked its 15th Anniversary at Imperial College London, after opening on 10 November 2006.

In-person celebrations

To celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Thomas Young Centre, a special event was organised at Imperial College London. The event started with a welcome introduction from Professor Mary Ryan, Interim Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise). 

Professor Ryan noted the vibrant and cross-disciplinary group gathered for the celebration and highlighted the TYC as ‘a great example’ of a strong and inclusive community that has been instrumental in marking London as a global centre in the theory and simulation of materials and molecules.

A selection of talks from researchers followed, including a 'highlight seminar' by Professor Michele Parrinello on the topic of “Simulating complexity: challenges and progress in atomistic materials science simulations”. In this talk, Professor Parrinello explained more about the recent developments in using machine learning algorithms to improve dynamical simulations of complex systems.

TYC co-Director Dr Rachel Crespo-Otero also spoke at the event to describe her group’s recent research on modelling photochemical processes in organic molecular crystals. Furthermore, TYC founding Director Professor Mike Finnis led a talk on his passion for phenomena in materials science that are underpinned by mechanisms of diffusion. 

It was wonderful to see colleagues and students from across the London community. Professor Arash Mostofi 

The special occasion was the first in-person event hosted by the Thomas Young Centre since the start of the pandemic. Around 45 attendees joined in person, with a similar number of attendees joining online.

Professor Arash Mostofi, Co-Director of the Thomas Young Centre, said: "It was wonderful to see colleagues and students from across the London community gathered together and having conversations and interactions that, who knows where they may lead us in the next 15 years?"

A recording of the event is now available to watch on YouTube.

About the Centre 

The Thomas Young Centre (TYC) is a dynamic and interdisciplinary alliance of London researchers which operates at the forefront of science to address the challenges of society and industry through the theory and simulation of materials or materials modelling.

It is currently made up of around 100 research groups from four London Colleges: Imperial College, King's College, QMUL (Queen Mary University London) and UCL (University College London). The academic departments involved include physics, materials, chemistry, earth sciences, biology, and several branches of engineering.

The centre has long-standing partnerships with national laboratories such as the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, and a strong track record working with several large companies such as BP and Rio Tinto to provide training and research. 

Find out more about the Thomas Young Centre: The London Centre for the Theory and Simulation of Materials & Molecules.