Dr Graham Kerr

I obtained my undergraduate MSci (Hons) degree and then my PhD here at the University of Glasgow, before becoming a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Upon completion of that postdoc position I became a NASA and NSF funded research scientist at the Catholic University of America, but still based at NASA/GSFC as a co-operative scientist.

In January 2026 I was very pleased to return to the University of Glasgow as a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group.

Throughout each those positions I have been active in leading research teams, in community engagement efforts, in student mentoring, in mission science teams, and in mission development.

Research Interests

My research focusses on the physics of solar flares, in particular how the complex lower solar atmosphere responds to the transport of an incredible amount of energy, mass, and radiation. This is achieved through a combination of state-of-the-art numerical modelling (radiation hydrodynamics and radiation transport) and the analysis of solar flare observations (e.g. Solar Orbiter, Hinode, IRIS, SDO & RHESSI satellites, and ground-based facilities such as DKIST and BBSO).

Critical and careful model-data comparisons assess the ability of our theories of flares and eruptive events stand up to the scrutiny, or if we are missing key ingredients. During my URF I will be exploring various discrepancies that have revealed themselves, and various physical processes that go beyond that standard picture we have of solar flares.