News & Events

PhD Studentships and MSc/MPhil/PhD opportunities in Astrophysics

The Jeremiah Horrocks Institute is pleased to announce the availability of several new STFC- and University-funded PhD Studentships, as part of its postgraduate intake for October 2010. Partially or fully-self-funded full-time or part-time students will also be considered. We are targeting enthusiastic and self-motivated students interested in joining one of the UK's most rapidly growing astrophysical research groups. If you are interested in joining the Institute, please contact Professor Gordon Bromage (gebromage@uclan.ac.uk) or Dr Tim Cawthorne (tvcawthorne@uclan.ac.uk). Application forms and guidance notes are available here (nb: download the Application Form, Academic Reference Form, and Guidance Notes from Section 3.2; ignore any other deadlines noted on this page, as they are not relevant for STFC Studentships). Applications will be considered until the positions are filled.

The Institute enjoys one of the most diverse research portfolios in the UK, with far-reaching expertise straddling the following disciplines:

• the formation and evolution of galaxies - using a combination of high-performance computational techniques and the world's most powerful telescopes to understand the growth of structure throughout the Cosmic Web.
• active galactic nuclei - understanding nuclear star clusters and the ejection of matter at close to the speed of light near the hearts of black holes.
• stellar astrophysics - examining the birth, death, and resurrection of stars using a variety of observations including asteroseismology.
• solar physics - shedding light on our nearest star, the Sun, through observations and simulations of the solar atmosphere, the solar wind, flares, coronal mass ejections and the eventual interaction with the Earth's atmosphere.

The Jeremiah Horrocks Institute is located on UCLan's Preston campus, just five minutes north of the city centre. The Institute plays a leadership role in steering the University's High-Performance Computational Science Facility, the centrepiece of which is a 512-node Sun HPC cluster. UCLan is a full partner in the UK's National Cosmology Supercomputer Consortium - COSMOS - and a partner in the Southern African Large Telescope, the largest aperture telescope in the southern hemisphere. We are also involved in current and future space missions such as Herschel, Kepler, GALEX, SPICA and Solar Dynamics Observatory.

In 2010's Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey, UCLan was rated as having the best student experience of all universities in North West England, and also best of all the UK's modern universities.

Preston has numerous theatres, cinemas, pubs, clubs, and shops, and was England's first wireless city. It is also one of the most cost-effective places to live in the country. In a recent survey of graduate satisfaction by the Royal Bank of Scotland, graduates gave Preston a 69% rating - fourth in the country and better than Liverpool, Edinburgh, Manchester or London! Just beyond the city lies the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and to the west are the seaside resorts of Blackpool, Lytham St Annes and Southport. Further afield the Lake District and Peak District National Parks are within an hour's drive, as are the other regional centres of Liverpool and Manchester.

Preston lies on the West Coast Main Line, and is only two hours from London by train.

For further information on the Institute see www.star.uclan.ac.uk

For Preston information, see www.visitpreston.com

Enquiries to Professor Gordon Bromage, Head of Jeremiah Horrocks Institute (gebromage@uclan.ac.uk, 01772 893569) or Dr Tim Cawthorne, Research Degrees Tutor (tvcawthorne@uclan.ac.uk, 01772 893731).

Header Image : V838 Mon and Tadpole Galaxy : credit NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA ; and solar plume courtesy of SOHO /EIT consortium

Author: BKGibson. Last Updated: 27 January, 2010 2:20