Bridget Ingham

Bridget Ingham

Watching paint dry can be a whole lot more fun – and scientifically challenging – than most people would imagine.

Research scientist Bridget Ingham knows what it is like to watch and experiment with particles of millionths of a millimetre; particles so small that more than a million would fit on the cross-section of a human hair.

She is one of only a few people in New Zealand with the level of knowledge required to observe and understand experimentation on this minute scale. Her specialty is synchrotron science, an emerging research field that is rapidly advancing with benefits for new technologies, including biotechnology and nanotechnology, that push the boundaries of possibility.

A synchrotron is a machine the size of a sports stadium that accelerates electrons almost to the speed of light. As electrons are deflected through magnetic fields they create extremely bright light which is channelled into beamlines of electromagnetic radiation, enabling scientific experiments and measurement of minute or diluted materials in real time.

Researchers can use the synchrotron for investigating the composition of materials, including drying paint, through to developing new ways to treat and diagnose cancers and conducting experiments that are difficult or impossible with conventional techniques.

As well as carrying out research at IRL, Bridget Ingham is Technical Director of the New Zealand Synchrotron Support Programme and responsible for coordinating New Zealand’s use of the Australian Synchrotron based in Melbourne.

This role involves Bridget helping other researchers get the most out of their work at the synchrotron facility.

New Zealand, through its universities and crown research institutes, is a founding member of the Australian Synchrotron and its scientists have been using the facility since it opened in July 2007.

“Synchrotron research is a relatively new field of science but the number of facilities is increasing and existing facilities are extending to meet demand. In Melbourne, there could be 40 or 50 experiments running at the same time, using different beamlines. Demand is so high that the facility runs 24 hours a day and New Zealand researchers must work around the clock when they have allocated time,” says Bridget.

“It’s fast forwarding New Zealand science and our capabilities.”

IRL, in collaboration with Cambridge University, is investigating fuel cell materials and electro catalysts that use fuel to generate electricity in cars for a cleaner, greener automotive industry. Bridget Ingham has also worked on the development of high temperature superconductors, metal nanoclusters and thin oxide films that form on metals to prevent corrosion.

She has experimented with paints to help a paint manufacturer understand how particles agglomerate to form minute clumps instead of drying evenly, without clumping or flaking.

Synchrotron science is not only about advanced materials. Cadbury UK has used synchrotron science to discover the optimal melting, heating and whipping points to improve processing procedures. They also discovered methods to prevent dark chocolate whitening as it ages, with the solutions to such industrial problems saving millions of dollars in operation costs.

While Bridget is an experienced synchrotron user, she admits she hadn’t heard of this field of science until 2004, when her ears pricked up during a summer school lecture in Australia during her final PhD year.

“I’d never heard of a synchrotron before, but I thought it sounded like fun although I thought that I’d probably never get the opportunity to be involved,” she says.

Later that year while attending another PhD-related summer school in Germany, Bridget was alerted to a job possibility at Imperial College in London to work on synchrotron science. What she thought was to be a job interview turned out to be an invitation to lunch and an assumption she would take the job. After working at Imperial College for a year, Bridget relocated to the synchrotron facility at Stanford University in the United States, which is considered one of the world's leading research and teaching institutions.

“I probably wouldn’t have believed it if people had said to me that as a scientist I would live in London and travel the world but that is what I’ve been able to do,” says Bridget, who is a former Chilton St James and Victoria University student. She has a BSc with Honours, majoring in maths and physics and a PhD in physics.

“Physics is about understanding phenomena and explaining how and why things happen, and using maths to do it.”

Her advice to school leavers and others making career decisions this summer is simple.

“It’s important to do something you enjoy doing, not necessarily what will make lots of money. Science is not about being an egghead. You’re always working on different things. It’s a creative environment, if you let it be.”