Postgraduate Opportunities

There are severeal opportunities available for postgraduate study (PhD or MSc by Research) in the areas of extra-solar planets or time-domain astronomy.

For details on current projects in the area of extra-solar planet research please look at current exoplanet research within the JBCA Pulsars, Exoplanets and Transients group..

Please contact me by email if you would like further information.

Research Groups

• Exoplanet research within the JBCA Pulsars, Exoplanets and Transients group

Some selected roles in the last 10 years:

• 2023: European Space Agency (ESA) appointed scientist, NASA Roman Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey Project Infrastructure Team
• 2023: Lead, Working Group 2 (Survey optimization and exoplanet demographics), Transits in the Roman Exoplanet Survey, NASA-selected WFI Science Survey for the Roman mission
• 2023: Lead, ESA Euclid Exoplanet Science Working Group
• 2022: Member, Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, US National Academy of Sciences (1-year appointment)
• Since 2016: Principal Investigator for the Spectroscopy and Phototmetry of Exoplanet Atmospheres Research Network

My current research focuses on the detection of cool exoplanets using microlensing as well as the study of the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets using transmission spectroscopy. I also do some work on developing game-theory based strategies for the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). I work with ground based optical and near-infrared telescope data, as well as data from space missions such as Kepler, Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope. I also work on simulations of space-based microlensing and transit surveys for the recently-launched ESA Euclid and the $4.3 billion NASA Roman mission, which is due for launch in late 2026. Roman will spend around 25% of its time undertaking the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey, for which I am the ESA-appointed member of the Project Infrastructure Team.

co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed papers in astrophysics.

Frequent live appearances as a space expert on BBC Breakfast as well as on BBC national and World Service radio.

My current research focuses on the detection of cool exoplanets using microlensing as well as the study of the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets using transmission spectroscopy. I also do some work on developing game-theory based strategies for the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

I work with ground based optical and near-infrared telescope data, as well as data from space missions such as Kepler, Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope. I also work on simulations of space-based microlensing and transit surveys for the recently-launched ESA Euclid and the $4.3 billion NASA Roman mission, which is due for launch in late 2026. Roman will spend around 25% of its time undertaking the Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey, for which I am the ESA-appointed member of the Project Infrastructure Team.

Some recent highlights:

• Principal Investigator of an STFC-funded study that used the NASA Kepler space telescope to make the first space-based discovery of an exoplanet using the microlensing technique. The same study has also uncovered evidence for a population of Earth-mass exoplanets that may not even be bound to any host star (so-called free-floating planets).
• The SPEARNET survey, whch I co-lead, has made a new measurment of the water vapour content of exoplanet HAT-P-26b.
• My SPEARNET team has developed new tools to combine Hubble and James Webb space telescope data and used it to study the atmosphere of WASP-96b.
• My team at Manchester has developed MaBulS, the most detailed public simulator of Galactic microlensing. The simulator has been used to help improve our understanding of the structure of the inner Galaxy, as well as to develop reference designs for potential Euclid and Roman exoplanet microlensing surveys.
• I have developed an innovatove new game-theory strategy for targeted Searches for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).