Isobel Lockley

Research

I am a PhD student in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at the University of Warwick. My supervisor is David Armstrong and my project is investigating transiting planets in the Neptunian Desert.

• Member of the TESS Follow-up working group SG1, using seeing-limited photometry to identify false positives. In particular, Hierarchical Triple Systems - eclipsing binaries with contamination from outer tertiary stars such that the binary eclipses mimic planetary transits.
• Member of the NGTS Consortium for TESS follow-up observations. Part of the Bright Stars working group, investigating orbital period decay of hot-Neptunes.
• Member of the ATREIDES Collaboration, observing the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect of Neptune desert planets with ESPRESSO.
• Member of the HARPS-Nomads, characterising Neptune desert planets.
• Primary Investigator for LCO program (LCO2025A-013), merged with Key Project (KEY2023B-005). Using the 2m-telescopes MuSCAT3 and 4 to perform multi-wavelength verification of hot-Neptune planet candidates.

Publications

Isobel S Lockley, David J Armstrong, Jorge Fernández Fernández, Sarah Millholland, et al. (2025) The TOI-1117 multiplanetary system: 3 sub-Neptunes, 1 in both the Neptunian Desert and Radius Valley, MNRAS, 541(2), 919–938, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf939

Lauren Doyle, David J Armstrong, Lorena Acuña, Ares Osborn, Sérgio A G Sousa, et al. (2025b) Exploring the Neptunian desert: insights from a homogeneous planetary sample, MNRAS, 539(4), 3138-3156, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf670

Conferences

DDE Conference	July 2025	University of Coimbra	Talk
UK EXOplanet Meeting 2025	Apr 2025	University of Leeds	Talk
PG Women in Physics Conference	Mar 2025	University of Nottingham	Poster (2nd Place)
NGTS Consortium Meeting 2024	Sept 2024	Université de Genève
TESS Science Conference III	July/Aug 2024	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Poster
UK EXOplanet Meeting 2024	Apr 2024	University of Birmingham	Poster
Spring MIST	Apr 2023	University of Birmingham	Poster

Teaching and Outreach

• Physics and Astrophysics Laboratory I (PX151 and PX152) Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) 2023-2025.
• Orbyts Support Fellow: Teaching secondary school children at disadvantaged schools about transiting planets and leading them in an exoplanet discovery project. Highly commended for the Warwick Awards for Public and Community Engagement 2025.
• Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI) Copy Editor 2024-2025: Editing manuscripts submitted to JEI, an open-access journal that publishes original science research by middle and high school students. Editing for clarity, formatting, and presentation.
• Planetarium Volunteer: Taking the University of Warwick inflatable planetarium to schools and presenting shows for primary school children.
• Big Bang Fair 2024: Hosting the University of Warwick interactive Astro Table at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham for home-schooled and school children.

Previous Education

LLM Master of Laws (Space Law) - Northumbria University: Mitigating the effects of satellites and constellations on observational astronomy

MPhys Physics and Astrophysics - University of Leeds: An in-depth spectroscopic study of four Herbig Ae/Be binaries

Year abroad, Masters in Particle Physics and Astrophysical Sciences - University of Helsinki: Study of massive star formation and evolution: X-ray and UV-excess emission from Herbig Ae/Be stars.