He is known for his experimental discovery of spin ice with M. J. Harris and his calculation of a critical exponent observed in two-dimensional magnets with P. C. W. Holdsworth.

[4] In 2009 Bramwell's group was one of several to report experimental evidence of magnetic monopole excitations in spin ice.

[5][6][7][8][9] He coined the term "magnetricity" to describe currents of these effective magnetic "monopoles" in condensed-matter systems.

Bramwell was awarded the 2010 Holweck Prize of the British Institute of Physics and the Société Française de Physique (SFP) for "pioneering new concepts in the experimental and theoretical study of spin systems".

[1] He shared the 2012 Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society Condensed Matter Division "for the prediction and experimental observation of magnetic monopoles in spin ice".