• Fellow of the Institute of Physics 
• PhD in Nuclear Physics, University of Birmingham, 1991 
• BSc. (Hons) Maths and Physics, Aston University, 1987

Martin Freer obtained his PhD in Nuclear Physics in 1991 from the University of Birmingham.

Thereafter he worked at the Argonne National Laboratory on the heavy-ion accelerator programme (ATLAS).

In 1993 he returned to the UK as an SERC/EPSRC Advanced Fellow and then went on to become a member of the academic staff of the School of Physics and Astronomy in 1998. He is now head of Nuclear Physics and Director of the Birmingham Centre for Nuclear Education and Research and the Birmingham Energy Institute (BEI).

In recognition for his contribution to the field of nuclear clustering (the study of clusterisation in nuclear matter) he received the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Prize, Humboldt Foundation, Germany in 2004 and the Rutherford Medal (IoP) 2010.

He has served on a number of international advisory panels for both scientific facilities (GANIL, France – chair; iThemba, South Africa) and for the Finland Academy. He has also severed on the UK Nuclear Physics Grants Panel (STFC) and is chair of the Nuclear Physics Advisory Panel (STFC).

Teaching Programmes 

• Year 1: Optics and Waves 
• Year 2: Physics and Communication Skills 
• Year 3: Nuclear Physics 
• Year 3: General Physics 
• Year 4: Nuclear Physics 
• Year 4: Projects 
• Postgraduate: Electronics
• Postgraduate: Laboratories

PhD's in Nuclear Structure.

Research Themes 

• Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Reactions
• Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

Research activity

• Member of the R3B collaboration at FAIR, GSI, Germany

• Chair of the Nuclear Physics Advisory Panel 
• Member of UK Nuclear Physics Advisory Panel 
• Advisor to Finish Academy 
• Chair of GANIL Programme Advisory Panel (France)
• Previous member of the iThemba Scientific Advisory Committee

Freer M. (2010), Clusters in Nuclei, Scholarpedia, 5(6):9652. doi:10.4249/scholarpedia.9652
(http://www.scholarpedia.org/)

Freer, M., et al. (2009), 2+ excitation of the C-12 Hoyle state, Phys. Rev. C 80: 041303

Catford, W.N., Freer M., et al. (2010), Migration of Nuclear Shell Gaps Studied in the d(Ne-24, p gamma)Ne-25 Reaction, Phys. Rev. Letts. 104: 192501

Freer, M., et al., (2006) :2n: structure in 10Be, Phys. Rev. Letts. 96; 042501

Freer, M. (2007) The clustered nucleus—cluster structures in stable and unstable nuclei, Rep. Prog. Phys. 70 No 12; 2149

von Oertzen, W., Freer, M. and Kanada-En’yo Y. (2006), Nuclear clusters and nuclear molecules, Physics Reports 432; 43

Ashwood, N.I, Freer, M., et al. (2004) Helium clustering in neutron-rich Be isotopes, Lett. B 580; 129

Freer, M., et al., (1999) Exotic Molecular States in 12Be, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82; 1383