History

I am currently residing in the historic city of St Albans with my spouse. I work at the Centre for Astrophysics Research, at the University of Hertfordshire as a University Research Fellow.

I was brought up in Horsham, a market town situated in West Sussex, in the south east of England. Horsham has been described as both the 2nd best place to live in the UK, as well as being placed 27th in the book Crap Towns: The 50 Worst Places To Live In The UK!

I spent my four years as an undergraduate at Manchester University, where alongside obtaining an MPhys in physics with astrophysics, I was a member of the Manchester University Women's Football Club.

My post-graduate studies were undertaken at University of Birmingham, supervised by Andy Read and Trevor Ponman. The title of my thesis was The Role of Galaxy Interactions, and was conferred in 2006.

During my time in Birmingham I not only obtained my PhD but I also found time to organise The Astrettes, the astronomy group's women's 6-a-side football team, play rugby for Moseley's Women's Rugby Football Club and I was also the drummer for the four piece punk/indie/rock band Toxteth O'Grady (and the airplane ankle suppression).

Between 2006 and 2010 I lived in Somerville, Massachusetts and worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, collaborating with Pepi Fabbiano. During my four years in the states I spent time exploring both the New England area, as well as many of the cities around the country.

I have also been fortunate in having the opportunity to spend 3 months on the wonderful island of Crete, working as an associate scientist at the University of Crete with Andreas Zezas.

Interests

Since returning to the UK I have spent much of my time catching up with family and friends and have even managed a Toxteth O'Grady band reunion.

I have also been enjoying the countryside of Hertfordshire, which I am pleased to find has excellent cycling facilities as well as an abundance of traditional country pubs.