Stuart Parkin’s research interests include atomically engineered thin-film heterostructures, high-temperature superconductors, and spintronic materials and devices for advanced sensor, memory and logic applications. Stuart’s discoveries in magnetoresistive thin film structures enabled a thousandfold increase in the storage capacity of magnetic disk drives.

Most recently, Stuart’s research has focused on a novel storage class memory device, ‘racetrack memory’, and cognitive materials that could enable very low power computing technologies. He is a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Engineering, the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and TWAS, (The World Academy of Sciences), and an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Stuart has received numerous awards and honours, including, most recently, the 2012 Von Hippel Award from the Materials Research Society, the 2013 Swan Medal of the Institute of Physics, and the €1 million 2014 Millennium Technology Award from the Technology Academy Finland. He is also an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.