Nico Orce’s short resumé @ OrceCVOct2026 Full Professor of Physics and CERN Associate Professor Nico Orce has led international nuclear physics experiments and published 150+ peer-reviewed papers. His research has uncovered novel collective excitations and revealed the nuclear origins of the universality of cosmic elemental abundances. He has secured over $3 million in research funding, developed open-access computational tools, delivered globally top-ranked nuclear physics lectures, and achieved 100% graduate employment.

“A Spartan chorus of warriors called out to the young men: Grow up to be yet braver than we!”             
Theoretical Physics and Philosophical Problems: Selected Writings (1900) by Ludwig Boltzmann

Prof Nico Orce presenting at the EMMI Workshop on Light Ion Collisions 2026 (Heidelberg University, Germany) https://indico.gsi.de/event/25022/

 

Dr Nikita Bernier is doing research on beta decay data of exotic nuclei, 66Ge and 70Se, taken at CERN, developing fast digital processing at the Modern African Nuclear DEtector LAboratory, and proposing experiments at TRIUMF and CERN.
Dr Kenzo Abrahams just finished his PhD analysing the data taken from our leading experiment @ CERN.
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Craig Mehl (PhD) is finishing his PhD working on measuring the shape of 20Ne and collective effects arising from the nuclear polarizability. His work is about to be submitted to Physics Letters B!
Elijah Akakpo (PhD) is working on fast digital processing and doing GEANT simulations of plastic scintillators that will be used as PET detectors applying quantum entanglement. He was a big part of our CERN experiment.
Cebo Ngwetsheni (PhD) is analysing one of the highest statistics Coulomb-excitation measurements ever carried out at MLL (Munich, Germany). He is currently simulating the Doppler effect due to the kick of the 4.4 MeV gamma-ray on the 12C projectile motion. He has already published three leading papers from his MSc work!
Kanting Motimele (PhD) is doing a PhD in Nuclear Theory using ab initio methods based in renormalization group approaches.
Ntokozo Radebe (MSc) is analysing the Coulomb-excitation of 36Ar, from data collected at iThemba LABS.
Andile Zulu (MSc) is studying nuclear vibrations and analysing the Coulomb-excitation of 62Ni, from the first experiment using exotic beams prepared with the MIVOC method.
Brenden Lesch (MSc) is studying nuclear vibrations and analysing the Coulomb-excitation of 60Ni, from the first experiment using exotic beams prepared with the MIVOC method.
Remember Ayanda Madonsela (MSc) is developing the fast digitizers @ MANDELA.

Manfred Jaftha (MSc) is analysing the data from the first African co-led experiment at TRIUMF. A Coulomb excitation of 82Sr which will shed light onto the phenomenon of shape coexistence.

 

And Always on the Bench ready to help!

Elias Martin Montes (MSc with Cum Laude) is taking a break from studies, but he’s always there to support the group with his exceptional engineering skills.
Mogammad Allie Kamedien (Group Finances & Honours), well known as Danny Ocean remains involved with the group after he joined the Statistics Department at UWC. We’ll get him back!
https://www.uwcnuclear.org/people