Dr Kieran Flanagan is a Reader of Physics within the Nuclear Physics Group in the School of Physics and Astronomy, where he the Director of Business Engagement. After graduating from The University of Manchester he undertook his PhD studies with Prof. Jon Billowes and carried out experiments in laser spectroscopy at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.  After his PhD he moved to CERN and worked for KU Leuven on laser spectroscopy and beta-NMR and then moved to Paris to work at IPN-Orsay. He was awarded an STFC Advanced Fellowship in 2009 and re-joined The University of Manchester. The programme of research at CERN uses resonance ionization spectroscopy to measure nuclear moments and charge radii in short-lived nuclei.  In 2015 he was awarded an ERC consolidator grant on the subject of fundamental nuclear properties measured with laser spectroscopy. His research has focused on size and shapes of nuclei and the underlying forces that bind the nucleus together. His research group in Manchester are developing the method of collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy for the purpose of trace isotope detection and isotope ratio analysis. The team are currently working on the development of a prototype enhanced-sensitivity mass spectrometer for the detection of 14C from environmental samples and ancient artefacts.