Current research project: Detecting and Characterising extrasolar planets with the Next Generation Transit Survey

I'm hunting for exoplanets orbiting other stars using the Next Generation Transit Survey in Paranal, Chile. I combine data of brightness measurements of the star, showing the 'shadow' caused by the planet passing in front of it and spectroscopic data showing the slight 'wobble' caused by the planet orbiting the star. I combine these data together to work out as much as possible about the physical properties of the star. It's size, mass, density, temperature and composition.

Biography:

I did my undergraduate BSc in Physics at the University of Warwick and then completed an MSc by research at Warwick under the supervision of Dr Daniel Bayliss. Now I've started a PhD in the Astrophysics research centre at Queen's University Belfast. Outside of my research, I love music, miniature painting and am obsessed with dinosaurs.

Research interests:

Astronomy
Astrophysics
Exoplanets
Habitability
Astrobiology

Supervisors: Professor Chris Watson and Dr Ernst De Mooij