Research Projects

We are offering a wide range of projects across three broad research areas for PhDs starting in 2020. See below for a list of staff who are available to take on students, and a list of currently available research projects. (Note that the project list is not exhaustive, and other possible topics are available too.) All of our staff welcome informal inquiries about their research and potential PhD projects, but please get in touch with the PhD admissions tutor, Prof. Richard Nelson, with more general enquiries.

The following AU members are available to take on PhD students for 2020 (projects are listed below):

Cosmology and Relativity: Tessa Baker, Phil Bull, Chris Clarkson, Tim Clifton, Karim Malik, David Mulryne, Alkistis Pourtsidou, Will Sutherland

• Early Universe Physics
• Foundations of relativistic cosmology
• Frontiers of Precision Cosmology
• Cosmology with gravitational waves
• Mapping the cosmic horizon with next-generation surveys
• Relativistic Cosmology in The Era of Large Scale Surveys
• Survey Astronomy
• Unveiling Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionisation with HERA

See our recruitment poster for 2020: Cosmology PhD poster 2020 [PDF 8,593KB]

Planetary Formation and Dynamics: Craig Agnor, Tom Haworth, Richard Nelson, Sijme-Jan Paardekooper

• Collisional Evolution of Planets and Satellites
• Disc-planet interactions in non-isothermal discs
• Dust-gas interactions and the signatures of planets in discs
• Planetary formation and migration
• Planet formation in stellar clusters

Space, Solar, and Astrophysical Plasmas: David Burgess, Christopher Chen, David Tsiklauri

• Exploring the Sun's Plasma Environment with the Parker Solar Probe Spacecraft
• Solar Plasma Physics
• Particle acceleration in shocks and turbulence in astrophysics

See also the PhD project list for the entire School of Physics and Astronomy.