He received his B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Arkansas in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maryland in 2008. He then went on to hold an Oxford-Culham Fusion Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford and a U.S. Department of Energy Fusion Energy Sciences Fellowship at the Massachussets Institute of Technology before becoming an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department at the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the Physics Department at Oxford in 2014. Dr. Barnes' primary research interest is magnetised plasma turbulence, with applications in magnetic confinement fusion and space/astrophysical systems.