I'm Gareth Jones (he/him), a 3rd year PhD student in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at the University of Warwick, supervised by Elizabeth StanwayLink opens in a new window.

I was also an undergraduate at the University of Warwick, having completed a MPhys in Physics (2016 - 2020).

Research

My PhD project involves using the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASSLink opens in a new window) models to create physically-motivated, panchromatic spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Currently, the BPASS models are focussed on the stellar emission and only model populations at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths. My work looks to extend these models into longer wavelengths, modelling emission at infrared and radio wavelengths, to see whether information can be inferred about a population's emission at these longer wavelengths from the stellar model.

One of the unique additions to BPASS compared to previously used stellar models is the addition of binary evolution pathways, a phenomena found to occur for most massive stars. Part of my work investigates how the inclusion of binaries effected the modelling procedure, looking specifically at combinations of stellar and dust models to see how various combinations involving different input physics performed when fitting to observational data.I also explore how this and other variations in stellar population synthesis model prescriptions (i.e. choice of atmospheric model, initial mass function) affect the uncertainty in derived galaxy parameters. The other part of my work investigates dust property evolution with cosmic time (i.e. dust temperature) and whether a connection to radio emission can be made to infer supernova rates using just the stellar and dust emission components.

Previous Projects

Other projects completed as part of my undergraduate degree:

• My undergraduate final year project focused on a stellar occultation by Titan with supervisor Tom MarshLink opens in a new window, where we modified a pipeline to extract flux counts from frames for a moving Titan merging with light from a background star. We could then derive an occultation light curve, from which atmospheric properties of Titan could be estimated.
• A summer project under the URSSLink opens in a new window scheme at Warwick with supervisor Grant KennedyLink opens in a new window, where we hunted for exocomets within TESS data by searching for asymmetric transits.

Publications

First Author

Jones et al. (2023)Link opens in a new window - "Exploring the evolution of dust temperature using spectral energy distribution fitting in a large photometric survey"

Jones et al. (2022)Link opens in a new window - "On the simultaneous modelling of dust and stellar populations for interpretation of galaxy properties"

Co-Author

Seeyave et al. (2023)Link opens in a new window - "First light and reionisation epoch simulations (FLARES) XIII: The Lyman-continuum emission of high-redshift galaxies"

Talks and Posters

• National Astronomy Meeting 2023 - In-person - PosterLink opens in a new window
• Malta FLAGS Meeting - In-person - TalkLink opens in a new window
• Pan-survey SED Forum - Online - TalkLink opens in a new window
• National Astronomy Meeting 2022 - In-person - PosterLink opens in a new window
• National Astronomy Meeting 2021 - Online - PosterLink opens in a new window
• SAZERAC 2.0 - Online - PosterLink opens in a new window

Teaching

During my time as a PhD student I have taken on the role of Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant for the undergraduate first year module Mathematics for Physicists. This involved me marking weekly maths problem sheets, from which I prepared and took weekly seminars for two classes of six students.

Volunteering and Outreach

Warwick in Africa

I enjoy participating in volunteering and outreach where possible. During the summer of 2018, I participated in the Warwick in AfricaLink opens in a new window scheme, volunteering in South Africa for 7 weeks. I travelled to a secondary school in the province of Limpopo and taught Maths to several classes from grade 8 to 12 (GCSE to AS level), with up to 100 students in each class. I prepared my own lessons and worksheets for each class, including marking the returned worksheets and mock exams. For one of the weeks, I attended a workshop to discuss different teaching styles with teachers from the Limpopo region.

Coding with Sophie

Coding with SophieLink opens in a new window is a 6-week programme filled with coding exercises to teach children how to code (designed for ages 7-11 years old). As a volunteer, I lead classes of up to 15 children involving introductory talks on what coding is and how useful it is, after which students dive into the lessons with me on hand to help when students get stuck on a particular problem.

Planetarium and Stellar Playground

Warwick Astronomy department has a portable, inflatable planetarium. I have helped run planetarium events on campus, in schools, and at big events/fairs. This has involved running a ticket booth due to capacity within the Planetarium, talking science and answering questions, and running Planetarium shows. Planetarium shows either run a pre-recorded video or are a live walk through the night sky using the StellariumLink opens in a new window app.

In addition, the Astronomy department recently got a portable touch screen TV and the Stellar PlaygroundLink opens in a new window software. This drag and drop software allows you to place stars and planets onto the screen and watch them evolve. Stars eventually go supernova and form different compact objects depending on the size of the star, while planets can be made to orbit stars and from intelligent life. I have helped run this software at events, helping the public learn the features of the software and teaching them cool science facts using it. I have also done a talk using the software to a group of students to demonstrate the coolness of Astronomy.

Other

During the National Astronomy Meeting 2022 held at Warwick, I helped with various outreach activities during the week. Schools were invited to participate in science and art activities, where I helped students build model stars for a HR diagram and demonstrated magnetic fields with various devices/toys. A science festival was put on during the conference with similar activities that I also volunteered at.

Other Activities

Equitea

I am part of the student committee for the monthly EquiteaLink opens in a new window seminar series, a forum where topics related to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) in Astronomy, Physics and/or STEM are discussed.

WAKE

During summer 2022, the Warwick Astronomy and Astrophysics department invited participants from under-represented countries in Astronomy to participate in the Warwick Astronomy Knowledge Exchange (WAKELink opens in a new window) program. During this, I helped run some of the sessions and co-organised the CV workshop, Equitea meeting and a lunch session where the students were introduced to the Extragalactic and Transient group at Warwick.

Postgraduate Seminar and Social Representative

During my third year of my PhD, I acted as the PG Seminar and Social Representative for the Physics department. During term time, every two weeks the PhD cohort have a seminar series where PhD students present to other PhD students to give them a friendly environment to practice talks. I ran the organisation of these events, getting speakers for each seminar and organising food and drink. Also as part of this role, I have organised other social events for this cohort, including quiz nights.