I am a theoretical physicist with interests in fluid dynamics, ordered systems, soft condensed matter and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. My current research project is on a fluid mechanic analogue to the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect. The AB effect is a quantum phenomenon where an electrically charged particle is affected by the magnetic vector potential even when the magnetic field in the permitted region is zero. In classical electrodynamics the magnetic vector potential is a mathematical tool and it is only the magnetic field that can have observable consequences, but in quantum mechanics the AB effect makes it possible to observe an interaction between a particle and the vector potential when the field is absent. The fluid analogue to the electrically charged particle is surface waves, while the vector potential (in the absence of a magnetic field) takes the form of an irrotational vortex.