I am a 2nd year DPhil student supervised by Prof. Jayne Birkby, and am a member of the wider Oxford Exoplanets group. I am interested in the characterisation of exoplanet atmospheres at high spectral resolution, including their atmospheric chemistry, dynamics, and formation.
I work to expand the boundaries of existing high resolution techniques, using the world's largest ground based telescopes, primarily the CRIRES spectrograph on the VLT. I have a particular interest in exploratory studies in preparation for the next generation of instrumentation for the extremely large telescopes (ELTs), which aim to see first light by the end of the decade. To this end, we have extended the high resolution cross-correlation technique further into the infrared (3.5 - 5.2 microns), covering the M-band, which will be used by METIS/ELT to search for biosignatures on the nearest rocky worlds (Parker et al. 2024). I am additionally interested in leveraging this novel wavelength range to study the composition, rotation, and formation history of young directly imaged planets and Brown Dwarfs.
Other interests include the study of the enigmatic sub-Neptunes, currently at the observational frontier of ground-based high-resolution transmission spectroscopy. I also have an interest in the hottest rocky exoplanets, the ultra-hot lava worlds, thought to have molten surfaces and support tenuous dayside atmospheres through outgassing. I am investigating how to study the coupled atmosphere and interior of these extreme worlds using both ground and space-based spectroscopy.
Prior to my PhD I obtained my MPhys (Master's) degree in Physics and Astronomy from Durham University, UK.