Ian Carter is a Research Fellow with the Nuclear Reaction Dynamics group within the Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physics (RSPhys). 

He received his Ph.D. in experimental nuclear physics from the Australian National University (ANU) in 2017. This research included developing Australia’s first radioactive exotic beam capability to advancing our understandings of light weakly bound nuclei through nuclear reaction studies with both stable and radioactive ion beams. 

Following Ian’s Ph.D., Ian joined CSIRO’s mineral resources business unit, where he used the skills and knowledge gained from his time in fundamental physics and led the technological development of a method to rapidly and nondestructively sense and sort gold concentrations in bulk ore. This work is leading to facilitate a smarter, more economic mining industry. 

Ian’s current research areas include working on understanding nucleon transfer reactions to studying mechanisms of energy dissipation which are proving to be a unique tool in probing the complex interactions of quantum systems.  In addition to Ian’s role as a Research fellow, he is advancing initiatives to allow the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility at the ANU to facilitate space radiation testing for the Australian space industry and Asia-Pacific region