Richard G. Morris

This website is no longer updated. It has been replaced by www.rgmorris.com.

I am a theoretical physicist interested in the use of both ideas and techniques from statistical and soft-condensed matter physics to study Biological systems. My work is primarily application-led, and aims to demonstrate the that theory is an integral and indispensable part of modern Biology. Conversely, I believe that Biology is a vast source of inspiration for new physical phenomena at the classical scale, and that living systems should not be outside the remit of theoretical physics / applied mathematics.

Specifically, my research covers (generalised) hydrodynamic descriptions of membranes, ordered fluids and tissues; particularly when combined with differential geometry to capture issues related to deformation or shape changes (as seen during early-embryo development, for example). I am also interested in the effects of stochasticity, whether in the context of sub-cellular signalling and information processing, or collective motion in swarms or flocks.

I am currently the Simons Fellow at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), part of the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, in Bangalore, India.

Previously, I was a postdoc with Prof. Matthew Turner at the University of Warwick, and with Dr. Marc Barthelemy at the Institut de Physique Théorique (IPhT) part of the CEA in Saclay, just outside of Paris. Before that, I did my PhD at the University of Manchester with Prof. Alan McKane, and worked in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) at both Citigroup and Barclays Capital, in London.

For articles which rely on simulation, I will endeavour to post the code (or appropriate link) here, along with some other (hopefully) useful pieces of information regarding scientific programming using C++ / Python / Mathematica.