Rate My Professor Nikos Nikiforakis

Nikos Nikiforakis is Professor of Computational Multiphysics in the Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, within the Physics faculty. He studied Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Manchester and received an MSc in Aerospace Propulsion and a PhD on the ‘Evolution of Detonation Waves’ (supervised by Professor J.F. Clarke FRS and Professor E.F. Toro OBE) from Cranfield Institute of Technology. He was a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, where he worked on building computational models for the simulation of global atmospheric flows (stratospheric ozone depletion over Northern Latitudes) with Professor J.A. Pyle FRS. From 1996, he was at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, where he founded the Laboratory of Computational Dynamics. Since 2008, he has been at the Cavendish Laboratory.

Professor Nikiforakis heads the Laboratory for Scientific Computing (with over 40 members), serves as Director for Academic Programmes of the Centre for Scientific Computing, Course Director of the MPhil in Scientific Computing, Deputy Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Computational Methods for Materials Science, and Director of the Gianna Angelopoulos Programme for Science Technology and Innovation. He is also a Fellow, College Teaching Officer, and Director of Studies in Mathematics at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His research specializes in the development and application of numerical algorithms and high-performance computing methods for the simultaneous solution of complex systems of nonlinear partial differential equations, enabling direct numerical simulations of four states of matter (computational multiphysics). The work addresses multi-physics and multi-scale problems previously considered intractable and involves collaborations with industrial partners from the UK and abroad to transfer scientific knowledge into operational software, generating economic impact. Key publications include ‘Multiphysics modelling of millimetre-wave ablation of geological materials’ (Computers and Geotechnics, 2026), ‘A multi-physics algorithm for shocked viscous flows interacting with geometrically complex elastoplastic materials’ (Physics of Fluids, 2025), ‘Three-dimensional full-field simulation of sonic boom emanating from complex geometries over buildings’ (Shock Waves, 2023), and ‘Numerical modelling of imposed magnetohydrodynamic effects in hypersonic flows’ (Physics of Fluids, 2022).