Dr Josh McFayden, a physics researcher at the University of Sussex, is the sole 2021 winner of the High Energy Particle Physics Group Prize from the Institute of Physics. 

Josh is a Royal Society University Research Fellow working within the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex.  He was awarded the prize for his contributions to electroweak physics at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva.   

New measurements by Josh and his colleagues from the Large Hadron Collider into ‘lepton flavour universality’ may potentially overturn scientists’ previous understanding of the fundamental particles of matter, and how they interact with each other.  If confirmed, these measurements could be indications of a new force of nature.  

Dr Kate Shaw, from the school of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex physics department, who also works with the ATLAS experiment at CERN, said: 

"Josh’s work on the Large Hadron Collider has been outstanding, especially with regard to ‘lepton flavour universality’ in which we are arguably in the search of a new force of nature.

Josh McFayden, who works between the University of Sussex and the ATLAS experiment at CERN, said: 

"It's an honour to receive this prize. I feel incredibly privileged to have been able to work on Large Hadron Collider physics since the first collisions back in 2009. In my recent work on lepton flavour universality and measurements of the Higgs Boson within the ATLAS detector, the goal is to understand the universe at a fundamental level. I’m tremendously excited about what the future holds for my research at Sussex, especially as 95% of the data that will be collected from the Large Hadron Collider is still to be explored.” 

Josh’s research also included developing a better understanding of the origin of mass. He did all of this work on the ATLAS experiment at CERN, which is the experiment within the Large Hadron Collider on which University of Sussex scientists wok.  

This prize is awarded annually to an early career researcher for outstanding contributions to particle physics research. The prize is £500.