2025- Lecturer, University of Bath, UK
2022-2025 Öpik Fellow, Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, UK
2015-2022 STFC Postdoctoral Researcher, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
2014-2015 VIALACTEA Postdoctoral Researcher, Université de Strasbourg, France
2013-2014 STEP Postdoctoral Researcher, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
2009-2013 PhD, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
2005-2009 MPhys Astrophysics, University of Liverpool/John Moores University, UK

A full version of my CV can be found here.

I was born in St. Helens, a small Northern town in Lancashire, United Kingdom (not Merseyside…) and went to school and sixth-form in the town. From there, I obtained my undergraduate degree in the joint-degree programme of the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University (MPhys Astrophysics; 1st).

I couldn’t get enough of Liverpool so stayed at the Astrophysics Research Institute of John Moores University to complete my PhD entitled “The Effect of the Large-Scale Structure of the Galaxy on Star Formation Properties” with Toby Moore. After 3.5 years of this, and many observing trips to the JCMT on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, I rolled into my first postdoctoral position, a STFC funded STEP position at the ARI.

The STEP position lasted for one-year at which point I was offered my next position at the Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg. That position was part of the VIALACTEA, FP7-funded project. My role in the project was to produce a 3D extinction map of the Galaxy, which would aid our understanding of Galactic structure as well as improving distance estimates to star-forming sources.

Following a one-year stint in France, Liverpool came calling again and I was only too happy to continue my love affair with the department and head back for a STFC-funded postdoctoral researcher position. The area of research is broadly described as “Galactic Star Formation” but would include exploiting the Herschel infrared Galactic Plane Survey (Hi-GAL) and the JCMT Plane Survey (JPS) to investigate the varying stages and scales of star formation. It was during this time that the CHIMPS2 JCMT Large Program started and we started to exploit this incredibly valuable molecular dataset.

At the end of this position, I made another move across a body of water to the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium to take up their prestigious Öpik Fellow, an independent research position. It was during this time that I developed my two JCMT Large Programs, MAJORS and CLOGS. More details on these projects can be found here.

My next position was my first academic role as a Lecturer in Physics at the University of Bath. In this role I have taught Python programming and data analysis.