Dr Heather Ratcliffe

I am working on a PhD with Dr Eduard Kontar, considering the evolution of flare-accelerated electron beams, and am now in my 4th and final year. I have been using 0 or 1-D simulations to investigate the effects of density inhomogeneities on plasma waves, which can lead to acceleration of electrons. I’m also looking at Type III radio emission, which is generated by electron beams, and developing a code to simulate this, working with Dr Hamish Reid in Meudon.

In addition, I’ve assisted at and run many planetarium shows and observatory tours, for all age groups, from Cub scouts up to retired RAF officers, most recently an event for Nasa’s Curiosity rover in Glenelg, Scotland.

Room 604
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: hratcliffe@astro.gla.ac.uk

Google Scholar Profile: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KwC67BAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra

Tel: +44 141 330 2960


Dr Natasha Jeffrey

I am currently a postdoctoral research assistant and I am interested in solar flare physics.
My main areas of research are:
 
  1. Solar flare UV/EUV line spectroscopy and deducing solar flare heated plasma/ion properties.
  2. Solar flare X-ray emission and deducing the properties of solar flare accelerated electrons.

Publications

Current CV

Google Citations

Room 614
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: natasha.jeffrey@glasgow.ac.uk

Tel: +44 141 330 0855


Dr David Graham

Postdoctoral Researcher

I have recently completed my PhD in Solar Physics supervised by Dr. Lyndsay Fletcher.

My research interests lie in the EUV spectroscopy of solar flare footpoints, using the space based instruments Hinode/EIS, SDO/EVE, and RHESSI to study the effects of heating the solar atmosphere to extreme temperatures during flares.

 

Room 604
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: d.graham@astro.gla.ac.uk

Tel: 0141 330 2960
Fax: +44 141 330 8600


Dr Ewan Dickson

I am doing a postdoc in Solar Physics, looking at particle acceleration in solar flares with RHESSI. My Supervisors are Dr Lyndsay Fletcher and Dr Eduard Kontar.

Room 604
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: e.dickson@astro.gla.ac.uk

Tel: +44 141 330 2960
Fax: +44 141 330 8600

Refereed Publications


Dr Christina Burge

I am working on modelling particle acceleration in turbulent magnetic fields, with particular applications to reconnection regions in the solar corona. I will be working at BAS in Cambridge for part of each year. My supervisors are Dr Alec MacKinnon and Dr Panagiota Petkaki.

I’m a member of the UKSP council, representing the intrests of PhD students within UKSP.

I’m also involved in the outreach work that the department undertakes, and I enjoy working with groups of young astronomers both at the observatory and in the mobile planetarium.

Room 604
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: c.burge@astro.gla.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 2960
Fax: +44 141 330 8600


Dr Gerrard Brown

PhD Student

I am with Dr. Nicolas Labrosse.

Room 604
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: g.brown.2@research.gla.ac.uk

Tel: +44 141 330 2960
Fax: +44 141 330 8600


Dr Euan David Bennet

Postdoctoral Researcher

I am working on aspects of Cosmic Magnetism, which covers a range of topics. At the moment I am looking at a mechanism by which electrons can be accelerated (by collapsing current densities) at recombination and provide a non-thermal component to the Cosmic Microwave Background. I will also be looking at other distribution-related effects which contribute to the CMB, with a view to determining the limits on the information we can extract from it about the primordial Universe.

Other research interests include Galaxy formation.

Room 616
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: ebennet@astro.gla.ac.uk

Tel: x3816
Fax: +44 141 330 8600
Refereed Publications


Mariam Alharbi

PhD Student

Room 614
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: m.alharbi.1@research.gla.ac.uk

Tel: +44 141 339 8855
Fax: +44 141 330 8600


Dr Paulo Simoes


Postdoctoral Researcher
My research has been mostly focused on the analysis of observational data of solar flares, investigating the properties of high-energy particles (through radio/microwave and X-rays data, and also computational simulations) and evolution of the flaring regions, mostly using ultraviolet/X-rays data. Currently, I am investigating the characteristics of the flaring chromosphere, through the analysis of multi-wavelength data, using computational flare models and evaluating the comparison of data vs. models.

Room 605
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Paulo.Simoes@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 4502
Fax: +44 141 330 8600

Personal homepage

(the contents of which are the responsibility of Paulo Simoes)

Refereed Publications


Dr Hugh Potts

KT Research Fellow

Research Areas

  • Atmospheric pressure plasmas for germicidal applications
    This experimental study is currently my main area of work. We have developed a novel process (patents filed) for producing ozone inside sealed containers, allowing us to sterilise the contents without opening the container or exposing the operator to ozone. A company (Anacail Ltd) was formed in February 2011 to exploit this technology.
  • Flatfield correction for SOHO MDI
    The SOHO satellite has been spectacularly successful at imaging the sun, and has now been operating continuously in the harsh environment of space for more than 12 years. In that time the CCD camera and optics have sustained significant radiation damage. We have developed a new technique for correcting the optical and CCD errors, producing a database of flatfields which can be used to reduce the flat fielding errors on the instrument by around a factor of 10. The repository of flatfields is hosted with the main MDI data service at Stanford University: http://soi.stanford.edu/sssc/MDI_continuum_hr_flatfields/flatfields.html and is mirrored locally here.
  • Solar flows and magnetic interactions
    The dynamics of small scale magnetic elements on the photosphere of the sun are dominated by their hydrodynamic interaction with the photospheric flows at the granular and supergranular scales. We have developed novel image analysis techniques (for example balltrack, codes available at http://code.google.com/p/solar-flow-tracking/) to analyse the fluid and magnetic element motion in the photosphere to investigate the energetics of these small scale interactions.
  • Magnetic Focusing of Therapeutic, Diagnostic or Prophylactic Agents to Deep Tumors.
    This is a collaboration with Dr Ben Shapiro at the University of Maryland in the US.
  • Ferrofluid dynamics
    Investigating the free surface dynamics of ferrofluid surface waves and freely suspended drops.

Room 616
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Hugh.Potts@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 3816
Fax: +44 141 330 8600

Personal homepage
(the contents of which are the responsibility of Dr Hugh Potts)

Refereed Publications


Dr Iain Hannah

Senior Lecturer

I am primarily interested in Solar flares which I investigate through RHESSI hard X-ray imaging and spectroscopy, multi-wavelength analysis, statistical surveys and numerical simulations. I also work on quiet Sun X-ray emission, the observations and possible emission mechanisms.

Room 617
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Iain.Hannah@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 5182

Personal homepage
(the contents of which are the responsibility of Iain Hannah)

Refereed Publications


Dr Nicolas Bian

Postdoctoral Researcher

Room 616
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Nicolas.Bian@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: x3816
Fax: +44 141 330 8600

Refereed Publications


Dr Alec L. MacKinnon

Senior Lecturer, Centre for Open Studies

Fast particles on the Sun and elsewhere: how do we learn about them, what effects do they have, what produces them? Solar and stellar flares. Solar neutrons: detection, production, consequences. Complex systems and self-organised criticality.

Room 605 and Centre for Open Studies
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Alexander.MacKinnon@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 7111
Fax: +44 141 330 8600

Personal homepage
(the contents of which are the responsibility of Dr Alec L. MacKinnon)

Refereed Publications


Dr Nicolas Labrosse

Photo of Nic Labrosse

Senior Lecturer (Physics and Astronomy)

These days…

Departmental responsibilities

Among various bits and pieces, I co-chair the Astronomy & Physics Education group.
In September 2020 I launched a mentoring scheme for Physics & Astronomy students: PANDA. Get in touch if you’d like to know more about any of this.

Teaching

Current teaching responsibilities include:

  • Cosmology I (Astronomy 345)
  • Heliophysics and Stellar Atmospheres II (Astronomy 345)
  • Stellar Structure and Evolution I (Astronomy 345)
  • The Sun’s Atmosphere (Taught Masters and SUPA Postgraduate Research Students)

Research

Education

I am passionate about learning and teaching in higher education, supporting our students, and working with them to build an environment enabling all of us to flourish as individuals. I have a strong interest in educational research, particularly on assessment and feedback, student identity, student belonging, transitions and student engagement. Read more about it here.

Solar Physics

My research interests are in understanding complex processes in the Sun’s atmosphere which affect Space Weather, using radiative transfer modelling, spectral diagnostics, and image processing techniques. I am particularly interested in solar prominences (particularly spectroscopic diagnostics and radiative transfer models) and in solar flares (particularly observations and models of the chromosphere in flares).

Publications

A list of publications can be consulted on this site, as well as on ADS. Some of my publications are also available on arxiv (including publications in educational research). Check out my ResearcherID profile for another way of looking at the same piece of information.

PhD students supervised

  • Yong Zhang (1st supervisor, October 2022)
  • Poppy Bennetts (1st supervisor, October 2022)
  • Ahmad Alharbi (1st supervisor, October 2019-)
  • Aaron Peat (1st supervisor, October 2018-September 2022)
  • David Millar (2nd supervisor, October 2018-September 2022)
  • John Armstrong (2nd supervisor, October 2017-September 2021)
  • Andrew Rodger (1st supervisor, October 2015-September 2019)
  • Stephen Brown (2nd supervisor, October 2014 – September 2018)
  • Peter Levens (1st supervisor, October 2013 – September 2017)
  • Graham Kerr (2nd supervisor, October 2012 – September 2016)
  • Gerrard Brown (1st supervisor, October 2011 – September 2015)

Research assistants

Professional bodies

I am currently a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and Senior Fellow of the University of Glasgow’s Recognising Excellence in Teaching scheme. I am also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Other responsibilities

Since August 2015 I am a member of the Committee of the Institute of Physics in Scotland.
I chaired the Institute of Physics (IOP) Higher Education Group committee between October 2017 and September 2021. I am now an Ordinary Member of the Committee.
I currently sit on the IOP Degree Accreditation Committee, and I do various other things for IOP to promote Physics and Higher Education in general.

Public engagement

Café Scientifique bannerI have created a new Café Scientifique, which has the particularity of being held entirely in French. Events take place either in Glasgow or in Edinburgh. It’s fun, it’s informative, so feel free to like us, follow us on Twitter, and say “salut”!

I am happy to give talks for audiences at various levels (including schools) on a variety of topics in solar physics in particular and astronomy in general. I will even do them in English!

Incarnations
I can be found on Twitter, LinkedIn, ResearchGATE


Back then…

Previous departmental responsibilities
In the past, I have been Class Head for Physics 1, Deputy Class Head for Exploring the Cosmos 1, Class Head of Exploring the Cosmos 2, Deputy Lab Head for Astronomy 1, Lab Head of Astronomy 2, Convenor of the Taught MSc programmes, MSc Project coordinator, and Chair of the PGT Examination Board.

Teaching
Past teaching responsibilities include:

  • Physics 1 Workshops / tutorials
  • Solar System I (Exploring the Cosmos 1X)
  • Life and Death of Stars I (Exploring the Cosmos 1Y)
  • Solar System Physics 1 (Astronomy 1)
  • Astronomy 1 tutorials
  • Introduction to Cosmology (Astronomy 1)
  • Laboratory (Astronomy 1)
  • Theoretical Astrophysics (Astronomy 2)
  • Laboratory (Astronomy 2)
  • Numerical Methods (Physics 3/4)
  • Laboratory (Astronomy 345)
  • Matter in the Universe (Exploring the Cosmos 2)
  • Research Skills (Taught Masters)
  • Student supervision (Astronomy 2, Astronomy 345)

Research
Coordinating activities of the Solar Simulations for the Atacama Large Millimeter Observatory Network “Prominences” experts team.
Member of the Organising Committee of Commission E1 (Solar Radiation and Structure) of the International Astronomical Union.

Between 2016-2018 I led the ISSI International Team on “Solving the prominence paradox”. The goal of this International Team was to test new ideas and develop new models to explain 1) how the motions observed in prominences (above the solar limb) and filaments (on the solar disk) fit with our current understanding of the magnetic field structure, and 2) how these motions are related to the photospheric dynamics.

Between 2009 and 2011, I led the International Team on “Solar Prominence Formation and Equilibrium: New Data, New Models” of the International Space Science Institute. Click on the link if you want to learn about our activities and published papers.

In 2007-2009 I led the International Team on “Spectroscopy and Imaging of Quiescent and Eruptive Solar Prominences from Space”. We published two review papers on the Physics of Solar Prominences: Spectral Diagnostics and Non-LTE Modelling, and Magnetic Structure and Dynamics.


Contact details
Room 619
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Nicolas.Labrosse@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 3817

If you read this page…
… and your thirst for knowledge has not been extinguished yet, you can also take a look at the departmental webpage!


Professor Eduard Kontar

Professor of Astrophysics

Solar Physics, Plasma Physics, Space Physics, Inverse Problems

Room 615
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Eduard.Kontar@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 2499
Fax: +44 141 330 8600

Personal homepage
(the contents of which are the responsibility of Dr Eduard Kontar)

Refereed Publications


Professor Martin Hendry


Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology; Head of School

Gravitational-wave and multimessenger astronomy and cosmology; statistical analysis of galaxy redshift and redshift-distance surveys; Bayesian inference and non-parametric statistical methods; Gravitational lensing and microlensing; public outreach and public engagement in science.

Room 607
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Martin.Hendry@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 5685
Fax: +44 141 330 8600

Personal homepage
(the contents of which are the responsibility of Prof Martin Hendry FRSE)

Refereed Publications


Professor Declan A Diver

Picture 3

Professor of Plasma Physics
My research interest is in the physics of plasmas, particularly theory and numerical simulations of fluid plasmas, and imperfectly ionised low-temperature technological plasmas.

This interest divides into two general areas:

Low energy phenomena in plasmas:

These are non-equilibrium, low temperature plasmas in which charged-particle interactions with neutrals plays a significant role. Topics such as ionization fronts, plasma chemistry, surface charging (including dust interactions), gas-plasma momentum exchange and electric field evolution are included here.


High energy phenomena in plasmas:

Pair plasmas (that is, electron-positron plasmas) populate pulsar magnetospheres, and make a key contribution to the pulsar radiation characteristics. Since they are intrinsically relativistic, this branch of plasma research addresses the evolution of (ultra-) relativistic plasma distributions, including electrostatic phenomena, relativistic damping and radiative instabilities.

Additional Information

Recent research grants:

EP/K006142/1 “Microplasma-assisted manipulation of intact airborne bacteria for real-time autonomous detection” (£325k), PI, in conjunction with EP/K006088/1 Maguire, NIBEC (£645k)

ST/I001808/1 “Rolling Programme in Solar and Plasma Astrophysics”, (£1.2M) Co-I

KE Fund: “Novel medical device aseptic cleaning and storage methods for efficient healthcare logistics” , PI (Andrew Smith, CoI) £9.9k

Published output:

You can find my publications via my ResearcherID.

I am also the author of “Plasma Formulary for Physics, Astronomy & Technology“, Wiley, 2nd Edition, and am a Founding Director (with Hugh Potts) of the spin-out company, Anacail Ltd.

Room 606

School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Declan.Diver@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 5686
Fax: +44 141 330 8600
Skype: declan.andrew.diver
 

 

 


Professor Graham Woan

GrahamWoan
Professor of Astrophysics, Group Leader, Observatory Director

The detection and measurement of astrophysical sources of gravitational radiation. Radio astronomy.

Room 609
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ

Email: Graham.Woan@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 5897
Fax: +44 141 330 8600

Personal homepage
(the contents of which are the responsibility of Prof. Graham Woan)

Refereed Publications


Professor Lyndsay Fletcher

Professor
My research interests are in solar flare and coronal physics, and include: flares in the chromosphere, flare and active region magnetic field structure, analysis of imaging and spectral data from solar space missions and numerical simulation of fast particle transport in magnetised plasmas.

 

 

 

Room 618
School of Physics and Astronomy
Kelvin Building
University of Glasgow
G12 8QQ
Scotland

Email: Lyndsay.Fletcher@glasgow.ac.uk
Tel: +44 141 330 5311/4152

Curriculum Vitae (Jan 2022)

Postgraduate Students (Jan 2022)

Publications (ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9315-7899)