CURRICULUM VITAE

Neven Soic

first name: Neven
family name: Soic
address: Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Department of Experimental Physics,
Bijenicka cesta 54, P.O.B. 1016, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
e-mail address: soic@irb.hr
born in Varazdin, Croatia, 25. 03 1967., Croatian Citizenship
marital status: married with Vanda, father of Neva

Education:

Ph. D., Experimental Nuclear Physics: ``Nuclear reactions induced by ⁷Li and clustering in the light nuclei'',
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia Jul 1999.
M. Sc., Experimental Nuclear Physics: ``Nuclear reactions ⁷Li + ⁷Li'',
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia Dec 1994.
B. Sc., Experimental Nuclear Physics: ``Resonances in the nuclear processes ⁷Li + p'',
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia Apr 1991.

Work experience:

Senior Scientist (corresponds to Professor at University) at Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia; Feb 2015 - present
Member of Ministry of Science and Education Committee for new science and high education legislation, 2018 - 2019
RBI Deputy Director for Research and Education, Feb 2014 - Feb 2018
Acting Head of the Division of Molecular Medicine, Feb 2015 - May 2016
Member of RBI Committee for EU structural funds projects, Apr 2012 - Jun 2013
Member of RBI Council for cooperation with business sector, May 2012 - Jun 2013
Member of RBI Council for strategic scientific program in physics, 2009 - 2010
Acting Head of the Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions, Feb - Dec 2008
Senior Research Associate (corresponds to Associate Professor at University) at Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia; Nov 2006 - Jan 2015
Lecturer at the Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, University of Zagreb; 2005 - 2010
Research Associate (corresponds to Assistant Professor at University) at Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia; Sep 2002 - Nov 2006
Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom; Sep 2000 - Sep 2002
Senior Research Assistant at Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia; Oct 1999 - Sep 2002
visiting researcher at Laboratori Nazionali del Sud INFN, Catania, Italy; Mar 1996, May - Jul 1996, Oct - Dec 1997, Oct - Nov 1999, Jul 2000
visiting researcher at Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland; Jul 1995 - Feb 1996
Research Assistant at Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia; Dec 1994 - Oct 1999
Graduate Assistant at Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia; May 1991 - Dec 1994

Project/grants:

one of the three proposers and spokesperson of part of the proposed research on research grant of Croatian Science Foundation (Hrvatska zaklada za znanost - HrZZ) "Neutron Rich Side of the Nuclear Landscape" project no. 1257, Dec 2018 - May 2024.
Leader of the project "Synergy for excellence in research and development of detectors, sensors and electronics" funded by European Structural and Investment Funds, June 2018 - December 2018.
co-proposer and member of the Management Committee Core group (steering committee), STSM coordinator (April 2017 - April 2019) of the COST action CA16117 "Chemical Elements as Tracers of the Evolution of the Cosmos", April 2017 - October 2021.
project manager and one of the three proposers of the Horizon 2020 ERA Chair project "Expanding Potential in Particle and Radiation Detectors, Sensors and Electronics in Croatia" - PaRaDeSEC approved on call H2020-WIDESPREAD-2014-2015/H2020-WIDESPREAD-2014-2, Jul 2015 - Mar 2021.

member and one of the proposers of " National Scientific Centre of Excellence for advanced materials and sensing devices", subunit "Physics and Technology of Ion Beams", Nov 2014 - Dec 2023.

one of the three proposers and spokesperson of part of the proposed research on research grant of Croatian Science Foundation (Hrvatska zaklada za znanost - HrZZ) "Nuclear structure and reactions - experiments towards the neutron drip line" project no. 7194, Sep 2014 - Aug 2018.

one of the three proposers, member of the Project Management Board and workpackage leader of the FP7 REGPOT project "Upgraded Facility for Development of Silicon and Diamond Particle Detector Systems" - Particle Detectors approved on call REGPOT-2009-2, Aug 2010 - Jan 2014.

principal investigator of the project "Experimental nuclear physics inputs for thermonuclear runaway", part of international collaborative project "Physics of compact objects: explosive nucleosynthesis and evolution" involved in the EuroGENESIS programme of the EUROCORES scheme of the European Science Foundation , Apr 2010 - Dec 2013.

coordinator of the FP7 REGPOT project CLUNA "Clustering phenomena in nuclear physics: strengthening of the Zagreb - Catania - Birmingham partnership" approved on call REGPOT-2007-3, May 2008 - Jul 2011.

one of the three proposers of national research grant "Nuclear structure and reactions: experimental approach" and spokesperson of part of the proposed research, Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport, 2008 - 2013.

grant for young scientists: "Nuclear reactions induced by ⁷Li and cluster structure of the light nuclei", Croatian Ministry of Science and Technology, 1998.

Research experience:

participated in several experiments at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator (Zagreb, Croatia), namely many-body final state reaction measurements of ⁷Li + ⁷Li (2 measurements), d + ⁷Li, ⁶Li + ⁶Li (4 measurements), p + ¹¹B, ³He + ¹¹B, ¹⁹F + ⁶Li and ³He + ⁹Be, resonant elastic scattering measurements of the ⁶Li + ⁴He, ⁹Be + ⁴He and ¹³C + ⁴He, low energy cross section measurements of reactions with the ³He beam on the ⁹Be, ¹²C and ²H targets, measurements of response of double sided silicon strip detectors using microbeam facility, etc., responsible for the beam production and tuning, experimental setup (detectors and electronics), data collection and analysis

participated in the kinematically complete measurements of many-body exit channels of the ⁷Li + ⁷Li, ⁷Li + ⁹Be, ⁷Li + ¹¹B, ¹⁸O + ⁹Be, ¹⁰B + ¹⁰B, ⁷Li + ^6,7Li, ¹⁷O + ²H, ²⁵Mg + ²H, ¹⁰Be + ⁹Be and ¹⁴N + ¹²C reactions, measurements of the ¹⁰Be+¹²⁰Sn reaction and the ¹⁰Be + ⁴He resonant scattering measurements at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator (Catania, Italy), responsible for detector design and experimental setup (detectors and electronics), data collection and analysis; spokesperson of the experiment "Study of ²⁴Mg resonances relevant for carbon burning nucleosynthesis" performed measuring ¹²C+¹⁶O reaction, co-spokesperson of the experiment "Indirect study of the ¹⁶O(¹²C,alpha)²⁴Mg and ¹⁶O(¹²C,p)²⁷Al reactions via the Trojan Horse Method applied to the ¹⁶O(¹⁴N,alpha²⁴Mg)²H and ¹⁶O(¹⁴N,p²⁷Al)²H three-body reactions (NitrOx)

participated in the kinematically complete measurements of many-body exit channels of the ⁹Be + ¹⁸O reaction at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud Superconducting Cyclotron (Catania, Italy), responsible for detector design and data collection

participated in the precise measurement of the pion beta decay ratio at Paul Scherrer Institute (Villigen, Switzerland), responsible for 3D tomography of individual CsI calorimeter modules, detector assembly, data collection and analysis

participated in the ⁶He + ⁶Li, ⁶He + ⁶⁴Zn, ⁶He + ⁷Li, ⁶He + ¹⁴C and ⁷Be + ^6,7Li experiments (coincidence detection of particles from many-body reactions), the two measurements of ⁶He + ⁴He resonant scattering and measurement of the ⁷Be + ⁴He resonant scattering at the radioactive beam facility of Institut de physique nucleaire, FYNU (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), responsible for detector setup and electronics assembly, data collection and reduction

participated in the kinematically complete measurements of many-body exit channels of the ¹²C + ¹²C, ⁷Li + ⁷Li, ⁶Li + ⁹Be, ⁶Li + ¹²C, ¹⁰B + ¹²C, ¹⁰B + ¹⁰B and ¹²C,¹⁶O,²⁸Si + ²⁸Si reactions at the ANU Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility, the Australian National University, (Canberra, Australia), responsible for experimental setup, beam tuning and data collection; spokesperson of experiment "Search for molecular-like structures based upon ¹⁶O in ²²Ne and ³⁴S" which comprises measurement of the ¹⁹F + ⁷Li, ¹⁹F + ¹⁹F and ³¹P + ⁷Li reactions at the ANU tandem accelerator, responsible for experimental setup (detectors and electronics), data collection and analysis

participated in the kinematically complete measurements of many-body exit channels of the ¹²C + ¹⁶O, ¹⁴C + ¹⁸O, ¹⁴C + ¹²C and ¹⁸O + ⁹Be reactions at the VIVITRON Accelerator, Institut de Recherches Subatomiques (Strasbourg, France), responsible for detector setup and electronics assembly and data collection; spokesperson of experiment "Search for molecular-like structure in ²²Ne" which comprises measurement of the ¹²C + ¹⁸O reaction at the Vivitron, responsible for experimental setup (detectors and electronics), data collection and analysis

participated in the kinematically complete measurements of many-body exit channels of the ¹²C + ^11,12Be ; ¹²C,Pb + ⁶He ; ¹²C + ¹⁰Be ; ¹²C,Pb + ¹⁴Be, ¹²C + ¹⁵B and ¹²C + ¹⁰C reactions and resonant scattering of ^10,12Be + ⁴He at the GANIL LISE radioactive beam facility (Caen, France) using Charissa array of charged particles telescopes, DEMON neutron detector and array of NaI gamma detectors; responsible for experimental setup (detectors and electronics) and data collection

participated in the kinematically complete measurements of many-body exit channels of the ¹²C, ⁷Li + ⁸He reactions, ⁸He + ⁴He, ²⁴Ne + ⁴He and ^40,44,48Ca + ⁴He resonant scattering measurements and measurements of the ⁸He + Pb and ¹⁷Ne + ²⁰⁸Pb reactions at the GANIL SPIRAL radioactive beam facility (Caen, France) using arrays of charged particles telescopes; responsible for experimental setup (detectors and electronics) and data collection. Spokesperson of the experiment E580S "Spectroscopy of neutron rich light nuclei: decays of ¹⁶C and ⁵H unbound states" which includes measurements of the ⁷Li,¹⁸O + ⁶He reactions.

participated in the measurements of the ⁴⁰Ca + ⁹⁶Zr, ⁹⁰Zr + ²⁰⁸Pb, ⁴⁰Ar + ²⁰⁸Pb, ⁶⁰Ni + ¹¹⁶Sn, ⁹²Mo + ⁵⁴Fe, ¹⁹⁷Au + ¹³⁰Te, ¹¹⁸Sn + ²⁰⁶Pb, ⁵⁴Fe + ⁹²Mo and ¹¹⁶Sn + ⁶⁰Ni reactions at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (Legnaro, Italy) XTU Tandem - ALPI accelerator complex using PRISMA spectrometer, for some measurements coupled to CLARA or AGATA array of gamma detectors, and measurement of ⁴⁰Ca + ^90,92Zr fusion reactions using PISOLO spectrometer, responsible for data collection, experimental setup. Spokesperson of the kinematically complete measurements of many-body exit channels of the ¹²C,¹⁰B + ¹⁴N reactions using arrays of charged particles telescopes. Spokesperson of the experiments "Study of Carbon-Carbon Burning by Measuring Excitation Function of the ²⁰Ne + ⁴He resonant reactions", "Revealing the structure of carbon nuclei A=10-14 through measurements of the excited state decay properties", "High resolution measurements of the ²⁰Ne+⁴He resonant scattering for characterization of the ²⁴Mg states at excitations 14 - 19 MeV" and "A novel approach to studying clustering in ²⁴Mg and C-C burning (NovACaCaBu)". Later measurements were performed using LIRAS experimental setup.

participated in the ¹²C + ⁴He resonant scattering measurement and ¹²C + ¹³C reactions measurement at the Institut de Physique Nucleaire d'Orsay (Orsay, France) Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator, using array of charged particles telescopes; responsible for experimental setup and data collection. Spokesperson of the experiment "⁴He and ⁶He cluster decay of ¹⁸O states".

participated in the ¹⁰Be + ⁴He resonant scattering measurement at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA, using array of charged particles telescopes; responsible for experimental setup and data collection; co-spokesperson of the experiment RIB-199 "A detailed study of the ¹⁸F(p,alpha)¹⁵O reaction at low collision energies"

participated in the ⁹Li + ⁴He resonant scattering measurement and measurements of the nuclear reactions ^9,11Li + ⁶⁴Zn and ²⁶Al + ²H at the ISAC-II Radioactive Ion Beam Facility, TRIUMF, Canada, and measurements of the reaction ⁷Be + ⁴He at the ISAC-I Radioactive Ion Beam Facility, using arrays of charged particles telescopes; responsible for experimental setup and data collection. Spokesperson of the experiment S1620 "Examining the helium cluster decays of the ¹²Be excited states by triton transfer to the ⁹Li beam", spokesperson of the experiment S2012 "Cluster structure of ¹⁶C excited states explored by ⁹Li + ¹¹B reaction" at the ISAC-II Radioactive Ion Beam Facility.

participated in the ⁸B + ⁶⁴Zn reaction measurement at the HIE-ISOLDE Radioactive Ion Beam Facility, CERN, Switzerland, using array of charged particles telescopes; responsible for experimental setup and data collection.

participated in the ⁴He + ²⁰Ne reaction measurements at the Radioactive Ion Beam Facility of Cyclotron Institute Texas A&M University, College Station, TX USA, using Texas Active Target (TexAT) detector; responsible for data collection.

experienced on silicon detectors (1D position sensitive, multistrip position sensitive, single and double sided strip detectors), cesium iodide detectors, gas ionisation chambers, multiwire proportional chambers, multiwire drift chambers, germanium and Si(Li) detectors, scintillation detectors; experienced on nuclear electronics: NIM, CAMAC, FASTBUS, VME standards, experienced on detector arrays and electronics setup

experience in running Tandem Van de Graaff accelerators, cyclotrons experience

computing experience: system administrator of different versions of Unix (Linux, Digital and HP), VMS (AXP and VAX), MS Windows; C, Fortran, Javascript; Cernlib, PAW, GEANT

Mentoring

Mentor of six graduate students theses: L. Prepolec (Jan 2009), M. Plodinec (Feb 2009), V. Tokic (Sep 2010), R. Popocovski (Sep 2017), L. Palada (Jul 2019) and I. Bicanic (Mar 2023)

Mentor of five PhD students: Lovro Prepolec (Sep 2015), Vedrana Tokic (Dec 2016), Nikola Vukman (Dec 2022), Luka Palada and Margareta Sigmund

Supervisor of four postdoctoral researchers: Laura Grassi (Apr 2011 - Jan 2014), Daniele Dell'Aquila (Apr 2019 - Jun 2020), Isabela Tisma (Feb 2022 - Oct 2023) and Nikola Vukman (Mar 2023 - present)

Events Organization

member of the local organizing committee of the international conference Fifth International Workshop on State of the Art in Nuclear Cluster Physics Hvar Jun 10. - 14. 2024.

member of the local organizing committee of the international conference Nuclear Structure and Dynamics Opatija Jul 09. - 13. 2012.

member of the organizating committee of the RBI Open Days 2008, 2010. and 2013.

member of the local organizing committee of the international conference Nuclear Structure and Dynamics Dubrovnik May 04. - 08. 2009.

member of the organizing committee of the international workshop The first EuroGENESIS workshop - Origin of the Elements and Nuclear History of the Universe. Dubrovnik November 23. - 26. 2010

co-organizer of the popular science lectures Science for public 2010/11

Conferences:

The 7th International Conference on Clustering Aspects of Nuclear Structure and Dynamics, Rab, Croatia, 14.-19. 6 1999., poster presentation "Nuclear reactions induced by ⁷ Li and clustering in light nuclei"

Second International Conference on Nuclear and Particle physics with CEBAF at Jefferson Laboratory, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 26.-31. 5 2003., invited talk "Experimental evidences for molecular structures in light nuclei"

The 8th International Conference on Clustering Aspects of Nuclear Structure and Dynamics, Nara, Japan, 24-29. 11 2003, oral presentation, " Alpha-decaying states in carbon and boron isotopes "

NUSTAR'05: NUclear STructure, Astrophysics and Reactions, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom, 5-8. Jan 2005, oral presentation "Three-Centre Cluster Structure in ¹¹C and ¹¹B"

FUSION06: International Conference on Reaction Mechanisms and Nuclear Structure at the Coulomb barrier, Island of San Servolo, Venezia, Italy, 19.-23. March 2006, oral presentation "Experimental evidence for cluster structure in ¹¹B"

International Conference "Nuclear Structure and Dynamics" Dubrovnik Croatia, May 04. - 08. 2009, poster presentation

International Workshop "The first EuroGENESIS workshop - Origin of the Elements and Nuclear History of the Universe" Dubrovnik Croatia November 23. - 26. 2010, oral presentation "Experimental nuclear physics inputs for thermonuclear runaway"

International Workshop "Nuclear Reactions of Astrophysical Interest - the EuroGENESIS program", Madrid Spain 27.-29. 04. 2011, oral presentation "Carbon - Carbon Burning and Other Research Topics of Zagreb IP"

International Workshop "Ab Initio Understanding of Light Nuclei", Birmingham United Kingdom, 12. - 13. 12. 2012., invited talk "Experimental research programme of Zagreb group on structure of light nuclei"

International Workshop "The 2nd Workshop on the physics at the TANDEM-ALTO facility" IPN Orsay France 14. - 15. May 2013., invited talk "Nuclear Molecules: exotic structure of light nuclei"

International Conference "THE ORIGIN OF COSMIC ELEMENTS, Past and Present Achievements, Future Challenges" Barcelona, Spain, June 10-15, 2013, oral presentation "Search for ²⁴Mg resonances inside the Gamow window for ¹²C + ¹²C fusion "

The 12th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions - NN2015, Catania Italy, Jun 21th - Jun 26th 2015, oral presentation "Insight into the ²⁴Mg excited states located in Gamow window for carbon - carbon burning"

The 8th Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics International conference - NPA2017, Catania Italy, Jun 18th - Jun 23th 2017, invited talk "Measurements of the ²⁰Ne+⁴He resonant elastic scattering for characterization of the ²⁴Mg states at relevant excitations for carbon - carbon burning process"

41st Symposium on Nuclear Physics, Cocoyoc, Morelos, Mexico, January 8th - 11th 2018, invited talk "Helium Decays of the ^17,18O Excited States and Clustering in Oxygen Nuclei"

Fourth International Workshop on "State of the Art in Nuclear Cluster Physics" Galveston, Texas, USA, May 13-18 2018, oral presentation "Study of Clustering in ^17,18O via Helium Decays of the Excited States"

Nuclear Physics in Stellar Explosions Workshop '18, ChETEC Industrial Day, ATOMKI Debrecen, Hungary, September 12th - 14th 2018, invited talk "HORIZON2020 Project Expanding Potential in Particle and Radiation Detectors, Sensors and Electronics in Croatia"

African Nuclear Physics Conference 2019, Kruger National Park, South Africa, July 1st - 5th 2019, oral presentation "Helium Decays of Excited States and Clustering in ^17,18O"

10th European Summer School on Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics (Santa Tecla School), INFN-LNS Catania, Italy, June 16th - 23rd 2019, invited lecture "Role of Clustering in Nuclear Astrophysics"

The 28th International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC 2022), Cape Town, South Africa, 11 to 16 September 2022, oral presentation "Clustering in ^10,12Be and ¹³B examined by reactions of ⁹Li beam on LiF target"

CV in PDF format