David Campbell - Biography#

(i) PhD at the University of Sydney, Australia and subsequently postdoctoral fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik in Garching, Germany, with research focus on the development and exploitation of electron cyclotron emission for the study of tokamak plasmas.

(ii) Dr Campbell spent 14 years at JET, the EU’s major fusion facility, at Culham in the UK, where he was responsible for managing experimental teams conducting major elements of the JET research programme, led the project’s plasma control group and, in 1991, was experimental program leader for the first tokamak experiments using deuterium-tritium fuel.

(iii) From 1996, he led the EU’s activities in physics and plasma engineering in support of ITER design and R&D studies as Field Coordinator for Physics Integration at the European Fusion Development Agreement in Garching, Germany. He played a major role in coordinating (a) the contributions of the EU's fusion research laboratories to the development of the physics basis for the ITER design, and (b) their R&D activities on ITER measurement systems, heating systems and control systems. He was also responsible for the coordination of the EU’s studies of the physics of fusion reactor plasmas.

(iv) He joined the ITER Organization in 2007 as Deputy-Head of Fusion Science and Technology Department, and in 2011 was appointed Director of Plasma Operation Directorate. Both positions encompassed management of the ITER project’s fusion science and test blanket module (TBM) technology programs; in April 2015 he was appointed Director of the Science and Operations Department, which is responsible for developing the ITER facility’s central control systems, for managing the project’s fusion science research and for preparing the framework for ITER operations – the Department has 60 professional and technical support staff and an annual budget of ~€28 million.

During his career, Dr Campbell has been responsible for conducting scientific research, leading substantial experimental teams in major areas of magnetic fusion research, managing significant elements of the ITER project during construction, establishing wide-ranging scientific collaborations in the European and international spheres, mentoring postdoctoral fellows and training graduate students.