The Técnico alumnus Frederico Fiúza is one of the seven Portuguese researchers awarded with an ERC Consolidator Grant worth 1.8 million euros, for a period of five years. The Técnico alumnus and researcher at Stanford University will develop the project “Extreme Particle Acceleration in Shocks: from the laboratory to astrophysics (XPACE)” at Técnico, where he will continue to excel in the field of Physics.
Shock waves are among the most powerful particle accelerators in the universe. Recent astronomical observations have revealed the nature and importance of phenomena associated with shock waves in space plasma, such as the acceleration of cosmic rays in supernovae remnants, the light of neutron stars collisions, and the jets of plasma shooting out of a supermassive black hole. However, it has not yet been possible to understand the physical principles regarding particle acceleration during astrophysical shock phenomena.
“We want to be able to solve the fundamental questions of the extreme phenomena that occur in plasma, bringing together theory, computational approach, laboratory experiments and astrophysical observations”, explains Frederico Fiúza,
Frederico Fiúza obtained his degree and PhD in Physics from Instituto Superior Técnico. He continued his research career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Stanford University over the past 10 years.
He has won several awards, including the John Dawson Award for Excellence in Research in Plasma Physics 2020, one of the most prestigious awards in this field.
“It gives me great pleasure to return to Portugal. These unique funding conditions are crucial to establish a working group that can lead research in this scientific field at European level, which will certainly contribute to the advancement of science and cutting-edge training in our country”, says the Técnico alumnus.
In this latest call, 2,652 applicants from 24 countries submitted proposals. In total, ERC awarded 313 Consolidator Grants, aimed at researchers of any nationality with 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD, who show great promise and an excellent research proposal.
