Astrophysics is the study of the physical nature of celestial objects and the Universe in which they live.
The Astrophysics group at Lancaster was set up in 2015 within the Physics Department, complementing the existing Astro-particle Cosmology and Space and Planetary Physics groups.
The group's research is primarily observational and tackles some of the most important open questions in Astrophysics, broadly centred around understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies and the properties of the Universe itself. The group's research on galaxies includes detailed measurement of the stellar populations within relatively nearby galaxies and star clusters ("galactic archaeology") through to searches for the most distant galaxies observable. Through these studies, we can probe the earliest systems that formed in the Universe. Related research on the properties of the Universe includes measuring cosmological parameters such as the expansion rate and geometry of the Universe, and the relative fractions and properties of its constituents, including ordinary matter and the mysterious dark matter and dark energy.
This research involves making state-of-the-art observations using the world's most powerful telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the facilities of the European Southern Observatory, including ALMA and VLT. At the same time, the group is involved in the scientific planning for several new telescopes and instruments that will come online in the next 5-10 years and that will revolutionise research in astrophysics. These include the 4MOST spectrograph to be mounted on the VISTA telescope, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (an 8m diameter survey telescope), the 40m European Extremely Large Telescope and in space ESA's Euclid mission (a wide-field survey telescope for cosmology), ESA's FLARE mission, and the 6m diameter James Webb Space Telescope.
Key research
galaxy formation and evolution
very high-redshift galaxies
sub-mm galaxies
supermassive black holes
reionisation of the universe
supernovae as cosmological probes
dark matter and dark energy
chemical abundances of stars, globular clusters and galaxies
scientific planning for future telescopes and instruments
We encourage researchers to consider the Lancaster Observational Astrophysics group as a host for prestigious postdoctoral fellowship applications.
Below is a list of fellowship opportunities available to astrophysicists. Some of these fellowships require the host department to provide full economic costings (e.g. RS URF), match funding (e.g. Leverhulme) or pre-select a list of candidates (e.g. STFC ERF, UKRI FLF). We recommend that you contact Dr John Stott as early as possible in order to ensure that your application can proceed successfully. Many of the deadlines below are based on those from previous years so please check the organisation website for the correct date.
Fellowships accordion
STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship Deadline: usually mid September. Potential candidates should send final versions of the following documentation: description of the project, 1-page (max.); candidate statement justifying their suitability, and fit to Lancaster, 1-page (max.); CV (in the narrative R4RI format, using the STFC ERF specific word limits); publication list (or highlights thereof, as appropriate, 400 words max.) to Dr John Stott cc'ing Dr Julie Wardlow by 26th June 2024.
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship Deadline: usually late February - Lancaster internal deadline for candidates to submit a draft proposal and CV to the Physics Dept is early January so please contact a member of the astrophysics group staff before then
PhD Opportunities
We encourage applications from excellent candidates wanting to pursue a PhD in Astrophysics.
Below is a list of our current PhD project opportunities. Our PhD projects are offered on a competitive basis and are subject to availability of funding. For more general information about PhD study in Physics at Lancaster, please contact our postgraduate admissions staff at py-pgadmiss@lancaster.ac.uk. You can also apply directly on our Physics Study webpage, stating the title of the project and the name of the supervisor. Once done, please also send an email to Professor Isobel Hook and Professor Brooke Simmons. For your application to be given full consideration and for those wishing to be considered for funding from an STFC studentship, please apply by the deadline of 31st January 2025. Letters of reference should also be received by the same deadline so please contact your letter writers in advance. Please note that you do not need to provide a research statement in the application and if you state multiple projects from the list below in your personal statement you will be considered for all of them.
Applicants are typically expected to have the equivalent of an upper second-class degree (2.1) in either Physics, Astrophysics or a related discipline.
For overseas applicants, there are resources that aggregate lists of funding (e.g. the British Council's website). External funding opportunities for overseas students often involve negotiating offers of study with the host institution in advance of the scholarship application deadline. Once a student has identified a relevant opportunity we are happy to discuss it with them in order to decide whether Lancaster is a good match and how best to move forward with the process.
We occasionally accept MSc by Research students. This is dependent on the availability of a suitable supervisor. Please look at the research pages of potential supervisors in order to find a fit to your interests.
Observational Astrophysics PhDs accordion
Supervisor
Professor Isobel Hook
Description
Dark energy is often invoked as the cause of the accelerating expansion of the universe, but its nature remains unknown. Several new telescopes and surveys will soon address this issue. This PhD project aims to advance the use of Type Ia supernovae as distance indicators for cosmology, using a combination of simulations and data from these new telescopes.
Specifically, the student will work on surveys with the Rubin Observatory, ESA's Euclid mission and/or 4MOST (the 4meter Multi-Object Spectrograph Telescope). These surveys will detect tens of thousands of new supernovae and their host galaxies with a range of imaging and spectroscopic observations at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. The project will start by working with collaborators to prepare for and collect the new datasets. The first dataset available is from the Euclid mission, which was launched in July 2023 and is now producing spectacular images that are being used to search for supernovae. As the dataset increases in size, the project will move towards searching for statistical correlations among various properties of the supernovae and their environments. This information will be used to improve the accuracy of Type Ia supernova distance measurements, and hence ultimately improve constraints on the nature of Dark Energy.
Please contact Professor Isobel Hook for further information. This PhD project represents just one component of the research performed by the wider Astrophysics group at Lancaster University. or more general information about PhD study in Physics at Lancaster please contact our postgraduate admissions staff at py-pgadmiss@lancaster.ac.uk.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for a funded studentship, please submit your application by 31st January 2025.
Supervisor
Dr John Stott
Description
As the Universe ages, galaxies find themselves drawn together into filaments, groups and clusters. Galaxies entering these dense environments can experience processes which ultimately lead to a dramatic change in their appearance and internal properties. This project will discover how galaxies are transformed (`quenched’) from blue star-forming spiral discs (like our own Milky Way) into passive red elliptical galaxies, through interactions with their environment.
This PhD project will be a detailed study of galaxy transformation with environment, comparing those in massive galaxy clusters to the low density "field" environment. You will use spectroscopy and imaging from Hubble Space Telescope, Very Large Telescope, Subaru telescope, WEAVE/William Herschel Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope and the revolutionary Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The results of this project will be physically interpreted through comparison with the outputs from state-of-the-art cosmological simulations of galaxy formation.
Please contact Dr John Stott for further information. This PhD project represents just one component of the research performed by the wider Astrophysics group at Lancaster University. For more general information about PhD study in Physics at Lancaster please contact our postgraduate admissions staff at py-pgadmiss@lancaster.ac.uk.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for a funded studentship, please submit your application by 31st January 2025.
Supervisor
Dr Julie Wardlow
Description
Luminous submillimetre-selected galaxies (SMGs) and dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) are distant galaxies that are undergoing immense bursts of star formation, with typical star-formation rates of hundreds to thousands of times that of our Milky Way. These extreme systems likely represent a key phase in the formation of massive local elliptical galaxies and even 20 years after their discovery they continue to challenge theories of galaxy evolution.
This PhD project aims to reveal both the small-scale and large-scale environments of SMGs. Using data from facilities including Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) and ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) the project will examine whether the extreme star formation in SMGs is triggered by mergers and interactions with nearby companions. We will also study whether SMGs reside in protoclusters, which is expected for the progenitors of local massive elliptical galaxies. The results of these observational analyses will be used to test theories of the formation and evolution of submillimetre galaxies and probe whether they are caused by galaxy-galaxy mergers as some simulations suggest.
Please contact Dr Julie Wardlow for further information. This PhD project represents just one component of the research performed by the wider Astrophysics group at Lancaster University. For more general information about PhD study in Physics at Lancaster please contact our postgraduate admissions staff at py-pgadmiss@lancaster.ac.uk.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for a funded studentship, please submit your application by 31 January 2025.
Supervisor
Dr Samantha Oates
Description
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are brief, intense flashes of gamma-rays that are accompanied by longer-lasting emission in the X-ray to radio wavelengths. The duration of the gamma-ray emission may be as short as a few milliseconds or may last for as long as a few hundred seconds, during which the GRB ‘outshines’ all objects in the known universe.
GRBs are divided, based on the duration of their gamma-ray emission, into two classes, 'long' and 'short', which are associated, respectively, with the collapse of massive stars or the mergers of two compact objects (either two neutron stars or a neutron star and black hole). Short GRBs have been associated with gravitational waves.
The search for the electromagnetic counterpart (EM), the GRB afterglow or kilonova, of gravitational wave (GW) events has led to large areas of sky being observed, leading to the detection of a variety of serendipitous optical/UV transients that are considered contaminants from EM searches to GW events, which may be interesting transients in their own right.
Some open questions in this area of research are: What are the environments GRBs explode into? What are the central engines and the structure of the jets? Have GRBs or their environments evolved with cosmological time? Can GRBs and their correlations be useful as cosmological probes? What are the optical/UV contaminants in the searches for the EM counterparts to GWs? The PhD student will have the opportunity to explore these types of questions. They will be able to join international collaborations such as Swift, LSST, STARGATE, and ENGRAVE.
Please contact Dr Samantha Oates for further information. This PhD project represents just one component of the research performed by the wider Astrophysics group at Lancaster University. For more general information about PhD study in Physics at Lancaster please contact our postgraduate admissions staff at py-pgadmiss@lancaster.ac.uk.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for a funded studentship, please submit your application by 31st January 2025.
Supervisor
Dr Mathew Smith
Description
The Universe is currently undergoing a period of rapid accelerated expansion. This discovery, suggesting that 75% of the energy budget of the Universe is unexplained represents the biggest mystery in physics today. Type Ia supernova, as bright, highly homogenous, explosions, are excellent measures of distance. Visible to vast distances, these cosmic light-bulbs are ideal measures of how the size and content of the Universe has evolved over the last 10 billion years. This PhD project aims to expand the use of these events to probe new aspects of cosmology. Specifically, the student will exploit data collected by the international Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) collaboration to maximise our understanding of type Ia supernova to produce a detailed 3D map of the nearby Universe.
This project represents a leap forward in this field; more than ten thousand discoveries are now made each year, compared to several hundred collected in the last twenty. The student will develop machine learning tools to separate type Ia supernovae from other variable sources, and use high performance computing techniques to measure the cosmological parameters using forward modelling techniques.
The student will work closely with a team of international researchers in France, Germany, Sweden, Ireland and the USA to measure the 3D distribution of matter which will improve our understanding of Dark Energy and General Relativity. Lancaster University has a leading role in multiple state-of-the-art supernova experiments including DES, LS4, LSST, 4MOST, Euclid, ZTF and JWST. As the PhD develops, the student will be encouraged to join and collaborate on projects based upon their own interests.
Please contact Dr Mathew Smith for further information. This PhD project represents just one component of the research performed by the wider Astrophysics group at Lancaster University. For more general information about PhD study in Physics at Lancaster please contact our postgraduate admissions staff at py-pgadmiss@lancaster.ac.uk.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for a funded studentship, please submit your application by 31st January 2025.
Supervisor
Dr Mathew Smith
Description
Explosive astrophysical transients are uniquely powerful probes for understanding the fundamental evolution of the Universe at all cosmic scales: from the expansion history and growth of structure, measured using type Ia supernovae; down to the star-formation histories of galaxies in a cycle that drives cosmic nucleosynthesis. This PhD project aims to uncover and explain the rarest of astrophysical explosions. Our understanding of this picture is rapidly evolving: the extremes of the transient population now differ in luminosity and time-scale by many orders-of-magnitude, but no plausible physical explanation exists for either.
Starting in 2026, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will revolutionise astrophysics: millions of new transients will be discovered each year. Combining these discoveries with high-cadenced photometric and spectroscopic data from projects lead by Lancaster astrophysics (LS4; TiDES), the student will develop unsupervised machine learning tools to identify ‘one in a billon’ events in real-time. Combining multi-wavelength observations with stellar populations, we will identify everything from the most luminous transients, to stars that vanish as black holes.
The student will work at the forefront of multiple international collaborations, alongside experts in the USA and Europe, to pin down the stars and environments that produce the extremes of stellar death. Lancaster University has a leading role in multiple state-of-the-art supernova experiments including DES, LS4, LSST, 4MOST, Euclid, ZTF and JWST. As the PhD develops, the student will be encouraged to join and collaborate on projects based upon their own interests.
Please contact Dr Mathew Smith for further information. This PhD project represents just one component of the research performed by the wider Astrophysics group at Lancaster University. For more general information about PhD study in Physics at Lancaster please contact our postgraduate admissions staff at py-pgadmiss@lancaster.ac.uk.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for a funded studentship, please submit your application by 31st January 2025.
Supervisor
Prof Brooke Simmons
Description
The first images of the early Universe from JWST have raised at least as many questions as they have answered about galaxy evolution. Further upcoming missions and surveys promise to do the same. Why are disk galaxies so common at high redshift? How do they grow to the masses at which they are observed, and how do we expect them to evolve to later times? For example, could they be the progenitors of galaxies like the Milky Way? How do we reliably identify disk galaxies and galaxies with other dynamical and morphological configurations in the large datasets provided by current and upcoming surveys? Do the supermassive black holes in the centres of disk galaxies grow and co-evolve with their host galaxies in the same way as we observe with other galaxy populations?
Investigation of these topics during a PhD project will involve analysis of multiwavelength, multi-channel observational data. This will include hands-on work with large datasets as well as working with and writing code. The student will join multiple established, productive communities, such as the Galaxy Zoo project. The student will have the opportunity to lead a data release of a morphological sample from at least one of the latest generation of surveys (e.g. from JWST, Euclid, or LSST, depending on timing and student interest). It is likely this will involve machine learning techniques, as well as combining machine classification predictions with citizen science classifications. The student may also have the opportunity to gain hands-on observing experience at world-class telescopes.
Please contact Prof Brooke Simmons for further information. This PhD project represents just one component of the research performed by the wider Astrophysics group at Lancaster University. For more general information about PhD study in Physics at Lancaster please contact our postgraduate admissions staff at py-pgadmiss@lancaster.ac.uk.
Funding is available on a competitive basis. To be considered for a funded studentship, please submit your application by 31st January 2025.
Postgraduate Training
The Observational Astrophysics group plans to run training workshops that are dedicated to postgraduate students. These will cover subject-specific and more general research skills. The form and content of these workshops will depend on the needs of individual PhD students.
The Faculty of Science and Technology, ISS and the Library offer additional training. Our students also have the opportunity to participate in departmental outreach training and to develop their presentation skills via participation in our outreach programme.
Example workshops include:
An introduction to astronomical data reduction and analysis tools
An introduction to the Python coding language
Our students can also apply to attend various national and international schools, including:
STFC Introductory and Advanced Summer Schools
NEON observing schools
Data-Intensive Science training workshops as part of the STFC Centre for Doctoral Training
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