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Professor Paul McKenna

Deputy Associate Principal

Physics

Contact

Personal statement

Paul McKenna is Deputy Associate Principal (Research & Knowledge Exchange). He leads activity in the areas of Research and Knowledge Exchange, with associated roles aligning with the University’s Postgraduate Research portfolio and Researcher Development. He was Vice Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Science from September 2021 to January 2023 and Head of the Department of Physics from August 2018 to August 2021.

Prof. McKenna’s research focuses on ultra-intense laser-plasma interactions, including the development and application of laser-driven particle and radiation sources, plasma optics and photonics, and high field science.

He is a member of EPSRC's Capital Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team since 2017 and a former member of STFC's Science Board (2017-20). He holds scientific advisory roles for several international high power laser facilities (e.g. the Program Advisory Committee for the Extreme Light infrastructure-Nuclear Physics facility) and held a visiting position at the Central Laser Facility at Harwell. He was an EPSRC Leadership Fellow from 2012-17 and was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2021.

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Prize And Awards

Recipient
1/10/2023
Recipient
30/3/2020

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Publications

Calvin Lyndsey, Gerstmayr Elias, Arran C, Tudor Liviana, Foster T, Fleck K, Bergmann B, Doria D, Kettle Brendan, Maguire H, Malka V, Manek P, Mangles SPD, , Mihai RE, Popa S, Ridgers Christopher, Smolyanskiy P, , Deas R, Sarri G
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Vol 68 (2026)
Trines R M G M, Schmitz Holger, , ,
Physical Review Research Vol 8 (2026)
Ahmed H, , Amos RA, Ariyanto DO, Baker C J, Bamber J, Bebbington J, Bertsche W, , Bliss N, Boella E, Boogert S, Borghesi M, Buckley R, Burrows Philip Nicholas, Casati G, Charlton Mike, Chen X, Clarke J, Cox B T, Cox G, Dascalu Titus-Stephan, , Dosanjh M, Dover N P, Dyson C, Eriksson S, Fernandez-Rodriguez A, Gerlach S, Giaccia A, Gibson S, Goulden A, Gray Ross, Green S, Greenshaw T, Griffiths S, Gujral D, Hall H C, Hardiman C, Harris EJ, Hill C, Hobson PR, Hugtenburg RP, Isaac A, Johnson M, Jones WG, Jurj PJ, , Knoll A, Kumar N, Kuo TJ, Kurup A, Lagrange JB, Lascaud J, Lombardi AM, Long Kenneth R, Luk WG, Lyu S, Masilela TAM, Matthews P, Maxouti M, McGarrigle JM, , McLauchlan R, McNeish I, Melia E, Middleman K, Najmudin Z, Noro M, O’Neill SR, Obst-Huebl L, Oelfke U, Owen H, Palmer Charlotte, Parambil F, Parodi K, Parsons JL, Pasternak J, Patel M, Pattathil R, Pereira M, Poptani H, Prezado Y, Price P, Price T, Prise KM, Pugh C, Ratoff P, Razak R, Romano F, Ruksasakchai P, Sabate-Gilarte M, Sadhur Z, Sandhu A, Schettino G, Schreiber J, Shields W, Smart B, Smith RA, Snijders AM, Spiers D, Tantawi S, Thomason JWG, , Towe S, Underwood T, van der Werf DP, Vick A, Vikhoreva A, Weightman P, Welsch CP, , , Zakhir N
(2026)
Los E E, Gerstmayr E, Arran C, Streeter M J V, Colgan C, Cobo C C, Kettle B, Blackburn T G, Bourgeois N, Calvin L, Carderelli J, Cavanagh N, Dann SJD, Di Piazza A, Fitzgarrald R, Ilderton A, Keitel CH, Marklund M, , Murphy C D, Najmudin Z, Parsons P, Pattathil R, Symes D R, Tamburini M, Thomas A G R, Wood J  C, Zepf M, Sarri G, Ridgers C P, Mangles S P D
Nature Communications Vol 17 (2026)
Glenn G D, Treffert F, Ahmed H, Astbury S, Borghesi M, Bourgeois N, Curry C B, Dann S J D, Diiorio S, Dover N P, Dzelzainis T, Ettlinger O, Gauthier M, Giuffrida L, Gray R J, Green J S, Hicks G S, Hyland C, Istokskaia V, , Loughran B, Margarone D, McCusker O, , Najmudin Z, Parisuaña C, Parsons P, Spindloe C, Streeter M J V, Symes D R, Thomas A G R, Xu N, Glenzer S H, Palmer C A J
Physical Review Research Vol 8 (2026)
, , , , , , , , Gray Ross J,
High Power Laser Science and Engineering Vol 13 (2026)

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Professional Activities

Speaker
21/5/2025
Participant
5/5/2025
Speaker
5/5/2025
Participant
13/4/2025
Contributor
8/4/2025
Speaker
2/2025

Projects

McDonald, James (Principal Investigator) Bedford, Tim (Co-investigator) Compton-Daw, Emma (Co-investigator) Connolly, Patricia (Co-investigator) Grealy, Madeleine (Co-investigator) Mahn, Churnjeet (Co-investigator) McKenna, Paul (Co-investigator) Graham, Angela (Researcher) Salamon, Katrina (Researcher) Sin, I Lin (Researcher) Weikum, Maria Katharina (Researcher) Wells-Holland, Chris (Researcher)
01-Jan-2026 - 31-Jan-2026
McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
31-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2029
McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2031
McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2029
McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2025 - 30-Jan-2030
McKenna, Paul (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2026

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Contact

Professor Paul McKenna
Deputy Associate Principal
Physics

Email: paul.mckenna@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 5712