About

Research

Briefly, our group carries out observational and theoretical studies of massive star formation, and the effects of these stars on their surroundings. On the observational side we have recently completed surveys of the Galactic Plane at mid-IR and radio wavelengths that have yielded the largest, well-selected samples of massive young stellar objects and ultra-compact H II regions to date. The Leeds group has led these two major international survey projects and is heavily involved in other ongoing Galactic Plane surveys at near-IR, far-IR, sub-millimetre and radio wavelengths.

On the theoretical side we have expertise in the hydrodynamical and magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) interaction of high Mach number flows and the effect of adding ablated/evaporated material from cold clumps into these flows. We use state-of-the-art dynamical codes to study these interactions, and radiative transfer codes to simulate observations, aid the interpretation of the data and drive future observations. The staff at Leeds are active participants in a number of international collaborations hoping to further current astrophysical research.

Teaching

Wherever it is possible we use the results of our research to inform the teaching provided as part of the Leeds undergraduate programmes. Final year students are integrated into the group to complete their final year research project, this year we graduated 8 MPHYS students and 13 BSc students on the Physics with Astrophysics programme.

Currently the school has 13 PhD students and looks to take on new students to study star and planet formation annually. We attract postgraduate research students from a diverse range of foreign countries including Chile, China, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Spain, the USA and Vietnam, as well as students from around the UK. If you are interested in postgraduate study in astrophysics at Leeds you can find more information here.