Mervi Mantsinen

Mervi Mantsinen

Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación

Engineering Sciences

I graduated in Technical Physics at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), now Aalto University, Finland in 1992. I carried out my research in the Plasma Physics and Fusion Group of HUT until 1995 when I moved to the JET Joint European Torus, the largest tokamak in the world, located in the UK. At JET, I worked as Ion Cyclotron Resonance Frequency (ICRF) Physics Expert, Scientific Coordinator, Responsible Officer for several large modelling codes and Physicist in Charge as well as trained as Session Leader of JET experiments. My thesis for the degree of Doctor of Science in Technology at HUT in 1999 was based on my research at JET. In 2003 I became Deputy Leader of Task Force Heating and Current Drive at JET, with approx. 80 members at several research institutions across Europe. In 2006 I joined the ICRF group of the Asdex Upgrade tokamak, Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics, Germany and in October 2013 I was appointed ICREA Research Professor at BSC.

Research interests

My research is directed towards contributing to the development of nuclear fusion as a source of energy and, in particular, to the ITER project. ITER is an international nuclear fusion R&D project, which is building the world's largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor in France. ITER aims to demonstrate that fusion energy is scientifically and technologically feasible. My research is focused in the numerical modelling of experiments in magnetically confined fusion devices in preparation for ITER operation, working towards the objectives of the European fusion research programme EUROfusion for Horizon Europe in close collaboration with ITER, International Tokamak Physics Activity, EUROfusion and the Spanish national fusion laboratory CIEMAT. My overall objective is to enhance the modelling capabilities by code validation and optimization, with the ultimate goal of helping improve the performance of ITER and future fusion reactors.

Selected publications

- Garcia-Gasulla M & Mantsinen MJ 2025, 'Challenges and opportunities in exascale fusion simulations', Nat Rev Phys 7, 355–364.
- Kappatou, A et al. 2025, 'Overview of the third JET deuterium-tritium campaign', Plasma physics and controlled fusion, 67 - 4 - 045039.
- Klepper CC, Lerche E, Graber V, Delabie E, Schuster E, Biewer TM, Lore JD, Jacquet P, Mantsinen MJ, Marcus C & Quinlan BR 2025, 'Feasibility of fusion plasma burn control via real-time, sub-divertor neutral gas isotopic and compositional analysis*', Nuclear fusion, 65 - 8 - 086015.

Selected research activities

  • Fusion Group Leader at BSC (fusion.bsc.es)
  • PI EUROfusion Advanced Computing Hub CIEMAT-BSC
  • Board Member of the EPS Plasma Physics Division
  • Member of the Editorial Board of the Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion (PPCF) journal published by the Institute of Physics Publishing.
  • Initiator and organizer of the annual EPS–PPCF Sylvie Jacquemot Early Career Prize, recognizing outstanding early-career researchers in plasma physics
  • Organizer of the “Women in Plasma Physics” event at the EPS 2025 Conference, fostering community and visibility for women scientists
  • Initiator, PC chair and local organizer of the Fusion HPC Workshop
  • PC member of the 18th Technical Meeting on Energetic Particles in Magnetic Confinement Systems, Seville, Spain
  • Expert of IFERC Project Committee under Broader Approach
  • Jury member for the Best PhD Thesis Award of the GEFP (Grupo Especializado de Física de Plasmas) of the Spanish Royal Physics Society (RSEF)
  • Vice-chair of “Magnetic confinement fusion – Tokamaks” and “Plasma Heating” Areas of the Spanish National Fusion Strategy Coordination