MSCi Physics (First-Class Honours) graduate of Queen's University Belfast.
Currently a 4th year Astrophysics PhD student at Queen's University Belfast. You can check out my academic profile
here.
My PhD project title is
Observations and Modelling of Intensity Time series for Biomedical
and Astrophysical Applications
.
I study nanoflares which are individually low energy flare events, (around a billionth that of a larger flare)
but they occur much more frequently. Theoretically, hundreds or even thousands of nanoflares could
be occurring per second over an entire stellar surface.
This means nanoflares are capable of being a major component of
the solar energy budget and are often touted
as a possible answer to the coronal heating mystery.
And nanoflares are mysterious - Due to their individually low energy, they're not possible to observe
directly. My work involves statistical studies of quiet stellar (and sometimes solar) data,
to extract any underlying signal due to the multitude of nanoflares therein. These signals can then
be compared to simulations, to try and constrain the nanoflaring parameters in the sun and in other
stars. I also adapt these techniques to analyse and enhance low-intensity signals for use in
bio-marker imaging applications with Randox Laboratories.
These techniques are explained in more detail in the publications
Jess et al (2019)
and
Dillon et al (2020)
I really enjoy getting to develop data analysis code, especially at the intersection of industrial and academic applications.
I enjoy playing around with computers in my spare time, and writing bits of code to automate or speed up tasks.
Outside of work, I can usually be found reading. You can check out my
goodreads
to see what I've been up to.