
Young Stars and their Environments
I investigate the early lives of sun-like and lower mass stars at ages when they are forming planetary systems. Using ground based and satellite observatories such as the ESO VLT, Spitzer and XMM-Newton, I test star and planetary formation scenarios. I am part of the steering group for the Gaia-ESO survey - a very large spectroscopic survey programme takong place on ESO's Very Large Telescope.
Innovative Teaching
I have been experimenting with some novel online learning resources for my undergraduate courses in Mathematics, Electromagnetism and Compact Objects, including screencasts and interactive graphical models. An example is shown above.
Public Outreach

I take the Keele Stardome (a.k.a. the Exoplanetarium) out to local schools. I use it to project the night sky, solar system and exoplanetary systems, covering topics on the KS2-5 science syllabus. The Stardome has made more than a hundred school visits since we upgraded to a spherical-mirror projection system in 2012, and it won the Times Higher Education Award for "Best Widening Participation or Outreach Initiative of 2015".