Dr Jennifer Cookman

Jennifer Cookman is an Assistant Professor in Physics at the University of Limerick, a Principal Investigator within the Bernal Institute, and the leader of an interdisciplinary research group focused on crystallisation processes under electron beam irradiation.

Dr. Cookman is an expert in advanced electron microscopy methods, with a highlight on LPTEM and CryoTEM. Her research has shown that crystallisation occurs from extremely undersaturated conditions in LPTEM where the aim is to reveal how the electron beam induces crystallisation through mechanisms such as solvent radiolysis, electric-field–driven nucleation, and mesoscale cluster formation. Her group integrates simulation and theory (AI-driven video analysis, radiolysis modelling, mesoscale density simulations), advanced electron microscopy, and traditional crystallisation approaches to reveal fundamental mechanisms governing structure formation at the nanoscale with a particular emphasis on liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (LPTEM).

Dr. Cookman has secured over €720,000 in competitive research funding and has been awarded several prestigious fellowships, including an IRC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2021) and the SFI Pathways Fellowship (2022). She has delivered 14 invited talks, presented at more than 30 international conferences, and organised multiple national and international symposia, including recently the Gordon Research Seminar on LPEM being held in California in January 2026.

She earned her BSc in Chemistry (2013) and PhD in Chemistry (2017) from University College Dublin, before commencing her first postdoctoral role working on the EU FET-Open “MagnaPharm” project at University of Limerick in 2017. Her research achievements have been recognised through distinctions such as being named a Stanford University Materials & Engineering Rising Star (2021) and the Bernal Institute Early/Mid-Career Researcher of the Year (2024). She is currently enrolled in the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship (expected 2026).

Outside the laboratory, Jennifer is a competitive badminton player, sings in the Limerick cathedral choir, enjoys video gaming and reading crime thriller novels.