Undergraduate and Master’s students in Physics, Mathematics, or Astronomy with research initiative and a genuine interest in theoretical and mathematical astrophysics are encouraged to contact me to discuss their own ideas for possible projects.
I usually work with students in the Summer of their Honours year (3rd year) onwards. I encourage Pre-Honours students to undertake a Summer SLICC as a meaningful preparation for subsequent research activities.
Please note that, especially during academic terms, I can not offer remote supervision or co-supervise undergraduate students enrolled at other institutions.
Students in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences with research interests at the interface with Science are also most welcome. Note that the Library and Archives of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh have much to offer – from the records of the activities of the Scottish ‘Women Computers’ to the Crawford Collection, which contains many first editions of major works in the history of Astronomy and related fields.
Two Summer Research Programmes at the University of Edinburgh are open to both internal and, occasionally, external undergraduate students, upon competitive admission
- Summer Research Projects at the School of Physics and Astronomy
- Summer Research Projects at the School of Mathematics
In alternative to the College and School-funded career development scholarships, financial support can be obtained via the following schemes (note that the application deadlines are usually in January-February for positions starting in June-July of the same calendar year). The typical project duration is 6-12 weeks, depending on the funding source. All schemes require the student to assume a leading role in preparing the application, in collaboration with the supervisor.
- Royal Astronomical Society Undergraduate Summer Bursaries (students of any nationality)
- London Mathematics Society Undergraduate Research Bursaries (students of any nationality enrolled at UK universities)
- Nuffield Research Placements (1st generation 16+ years old students of any nationality enrolled at UK secondary schools and universities)
- Carnegie Vacation Scholarships (students of any nationality enrolled at Scottish universities)
- NSF International Research Experiences for Students (students from United States)
For students currently enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, the following opportunities are also available as an integral part of their degree programmes
- Senior Honours Projects in Theoretical Physics, Applied Mathematics, Astrophysics (Sep-Dec, Jan-Apr, or Sep-Mar)
- MPhys and MMath Projects (Sep-Mar)
- MSc Dissertations in Theoretical Physics and Mathematical Physics (Jun-Aug)
- MSc Dissertations in Computational Applied Mathematics (Jun-Aug)
and some opportunities to gain international research experience over the Summer are described here; I wish to highlight
- UTRIP – University of Tokyo Research Internship Programme (Tokyo, Japan)
- ASIAA SSP – Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics Summer Student Program (Taipei, Taiwan)
- STScI SASP – Space Astronomy Summer Program (Baltimore, United States)
- NASA I^2 – International Internship Program (NASA centers, United States)
- ESO Summer Research Programme (Garching, Germany)
- LEAPS – The Leiden/ESA Astrophysics Programme for Summer Students (Leiden, The Netherlands)