Ben Ford
Higher Scientist
Ben joined NPL’s Underwater Acoustics team in November 2019 as a Research Scientist. He initially focused on primary and secondary standard hydrophone calibrations before becoming the Measurement Service Provider for the AW10 measurement service. In this role, Ben continued to deliver and develop the service.
In 2020, Ben became involved in the EMPIR-funded Infra-AUV project. The project aimed to extend the low-frequency calibration capabilities of underwater acoustics, air acoustics and vibration metrology institutes across Europe. This enabled calibration at frequencies lower than had previously been possible.
As a result of this work, Ben co-authored the paper‘A calculable pistonphone for the absolute calibration of hydrophones in the frequency range from 0.5 Hz to 250 Hz’, which won the prestigious Rayleigh Award in 2025.
Current Interests
Ben’s current research interests include optical acoustics, long-term sensitivity trends in hydrophones and low-frequency calibration. He has also developed strong working relationships across the global acoustics metrology community and represents NPL in underwater acoustics at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).
Ben is also organising and leading the upcoming key comparison, CCAUV.W-K3.