The promise of fusion energy unites scientists in a collaborative, fast-moving research environment, and I’m excited to be part of it.

Tijs Wijkamp is a Doctoral Candidate at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER). His research activities reside in the domain of magnetically confined nuclear fusion, with a focus on optically diagnosing plasmas. Light emitted by the charged mixture contains a wealth of information; from the impurity content, to the temperatures of its constituents and even the energy of unwanted relativistic ‘runaway’ electrons. Multispectral imaging, an area of study in which DIFFER has acquired considerable expertise in recent years, is a promising way of disentangling different spatial emission profiles. Through careful interpretive modelling, these profiles can be used for validation and improvement of our understanding of fusion plasma physics. Tijs’ contribution to these experimental efforts are centered around the topics of runaway electrons and divertor detachment.

Tijs Wijkamp holds MSc degrees in Applied Physics and Science and Technology of Nuclear Fusion from Eindhoven University of Technology. During his double degree, he acquired a broad basis of fusion knowledge, and an internationally oriented view of the field through for instance an internship at DIII-D (San Diego, USA). This is supplemented by developed expertise in the areas of multispectral camera imaging, (line-)emission data analysis and runaway electron physics. Research activities as a Doctoral Candidate (and part of EUROfusion research programs) will be conducted at European experimental fusion devices; TCV (Lausanne, Switzerland), and MAST-U (Culham, UK).