Dr Becky Smethurst

I am a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellow at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). My research is focussed on nearby galaxy evolution studies; particularly the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the processes responsible for the shut down of star formation in a galaxy. In particular I am interested in how this growth and subsequent feedback occurs in the absence of galaxy mergers. I am also working with SDSS-IV MaNGA data to determine whether feedback from growing SMBHs is responsible for the termination of star formation across the galaxy population, as has long been predicted by theoretical work without observational evidence. Alongside my research I am an enthusiastic science communicator; I run an award-winning astronomy YouTube channel, ‘Dr Becky’, with over 500,000 subscribers and 40 million total views. I was recently awarded the Royal Astronomical Society's Winton Award for 2022 for research by a post-doctoral fellow in astronomy whose career has shown the most promising development.