Dr Lewis Owen

Lewis Owen joined to the department in 2021. Prior to this he was a research fellow at Gonville and Caius College. 

His research focuses on the use of total scattering techniques for the study of local effects in alloy systems. Total scattering is a method where both the diffuse and Bragg scattering are considered simultaneously. This provides insight into the local effects occurring in alloys beyond the average structure that is obtainable from the Bragg data alone.

Using a combination of X-ray and Neutron scattering, we are able to probe the short-range order in metallic compounds, understanding the material on the atomic scale. A combination of small (PDFGui) and large box modelling (RMCProfile) modelling techniques are used to interpret the data. Of particular interest are the distortions in the local structure, and variations in order that occur prior to phase transitions in the system. The knowledge of the local structure is of key importance to the structure-property relationships of the material. The systems under study range from simple binary alloys, to industrially relevant systems (e.g. Nickel superalloys) and novel materials (e.g. High-entropy alloys) for radiation damage tolerance.

In 2023, Lewis was awarded the IOM3 Silver medal in recognition of outstanding contribution to a field of interest within the materials, minerals and mining sector.

Lewis is also the Academic lead for the X-ray Laboratory, housed in the Harry Brearly Building as part of the Royce Discovery Centre. He is also the current Chair of the Physical Crystallography Group of the British Crystallographic Association, and the Structural Condensed Matter Physics Group of the Institute of Physics. Lewis also has strong ties to the UK Central facilties - the Diamond Light Source and ISIS Neutron and Muon Source. As well has having joint PhD students with both facilties, he also serves on their facilities access review panels for the Crystallography beamlines.

Lewis is particularly keen on teaching, science communication and outreach, and regularly gives talks at Science festivals, open days and in schools, and is Outreach lead for the Department of Material Science and Engineering. In 2023 he was awarded the Parkin Prize awarded by the British Crystallographic Association (BCA) to a young Crystallographer who has been recognised for outstanding contributions to promoting science, raising public awareness of science or teaching crystallography/science. Lewis also develops and hosts the Materials Unlocked podcast, supported by the Henry Royce institute, to try and explain what materials science is to the broader public. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Outside of research, Lewis is a keen musician and actor.