Lauren Doyle
I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick, working in the PLATO Science Management (PSM) Office, which is funded by the UK Space Agency. My research expertise focuses on the formation and evolution of gas giants and brown dwarfs through measurements of their spin-orbit alignment.
I completed my PhD on stellar variability — such as flares and starspots — and their impact on exoplanet detection and atmospheric properties. I have also investigated the magnetic field structure of flare events, active regions, and the broader magnetic architecture of low-mass and solar-type stars. My academic career began with solar flare research, and I now work with data from a wide range of ground- and space-based instruments, including PLATO, Kepler/K2, TESS, NGTS, ESPRESSO, HARPS, SPIRou, NEID and KPF.
I currently lead the outreach team in the Astronomy and Astrophysics department, focusing on encouraging the new generation to pursue studies in STEM subjects, particularly physics and astronomy. As part of this role, I have organised annually our contribution to the Big Bang Fair hosted at the NEC, given a Christmas lecture at Warwick Arts Centre, and manage our mobile planetarium operations. I am a Warwick Institute of Engagement (WIE) Fellow, so I frequently work with WIE along with other departments across the university, such as Physics, Arts, Chemistry and WMG to promote and encourage those to study at the University of Warwick.
Contents:
Sections in this page include:
Research
PLATO
PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations)Link opens in a new window is the European Space Agency’s M3 mission dedicated to discovering planets beyond our Solar System—known as exoplanets. Its primary goal is to find Earth-sized planets orbiting Sun-like stars at similar distances to Earth's orbit. In addition to these Earth analogues, PLATO will detect thousands of other exoplanets and will determine key properties such as their size, mass, and age.
PLATO will search for exoplanets using the transit method. Equipped with 26 small telescopes, the satellite will continuously observe a wide area of the night sky, detecting the subtle, regular dimming of stars caused by planets passing in front of them. In addition to planet hunting, PLATO has a powerful asteroseismology capability, allowing scientists to probe the internal structures of thousands of stars by studying their vibrations.
As part of the PSM Office, I work closely with Prof. Don PollaccoLink opens in a new window (the PSM Coordinator) and Dr. David BrownLink opens in a new window (PSM Office Manager) to manage the PLATO-related work of hundreds of scientists from across Europe, and to prepare for the launch of PLATO in December 2026.
Exoplanets & Brown Dwarfs
Transit photometric light curves combined with RV measurements provide details on planetary masses, composition and the overall nature of systems.
When a planet transits a host star, a portion of the starlight is blocked from the line of sight and a distortion of the velocities is observed, known as the Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect, which can be used to measure the spin-orbit alignment of a planetary system. The spin-orbit alignment is the sky-projected angle between the stellar spin axis and planetary orbital plane, λ, and contains encoded information about the formation and migration of systems. For an object that has undergone disk migration, we expect λ = 0. However, for scattering migration, we expect λ to be randomly distributed over all angles.
Left: A schematic of a transiting planet showing the spin-orbit angle (λ) and the true 3D angle (ψ) within the system.
Right: All known hot Jupiter systems (grey) and brown dwarfs (black) with measured spin-orbit alignments as a function of the stellar temperature. (Doyle et al. 2025a)
The reloaded-RM (RRM) technique isolates the blocked starlight behind the planet to spatially resolve the stellar spectrum. This starlight can be used to detect and characterise both stellar differential rotation (DR) and centre-to-limb convection-induced variations (CLV), and to determine star-planet spin-orbit alignments.
A GIF showing the RRM Technique. This involves isolating starlight behind the planet by subtracting in-transit observations from out-of-transit observations. The video shows this isolated starlight, where we are operating on the cross-correlation function (CCF) in the middle panel. The CCF is a composite of all the absorption spectral lines, and we scale the CCFs using transit light curves, allowing for their direct subtraction. The very bottom panel is a top-down view of the CCFs, where you can see a change in velocity represented by the CCF centroid as the planet tracks across the star. (GIF credit: Sam Halverson)
Inhomogeneities (such as granulation, plage/faculae and spots) on the surfaces of Sun-like stars induce velocity signals which can swamp the signal from a rocky, temperate planet. Stellar surfaces are covered in granules, bubbles of hot plasma which rise to the surface, before cooling and falling back into intergranular lanes. The net convective velocity shift caused by these granules changes as a function of limb angle (i.e. from the centre to the limb of the star) due to line-of-sight changes. Overall, these velocity shifts can impact the RM effect, which is used to determine the spin-orbit alignment. Therefore, ignoring the velocity contributions caused by granulation can bias or skew these measurements and impact our understanding of planet formation and evolution. Furthermore, DR plays a critical role in dynamo processes, which are largely responsible for the generation of magnetic fields. Therefore, understanding DR and CLV are not just important for exoplanet characterisation, but for magnetic activity as a whole.
Solar Flares
Solar flares represent sudden increases in radiation which result from a rapid reconfiguration of the coronal magnetic field. Overall, these events are extremely powerful and are observed across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, possessing energy outputs up to 1032 erg. Magnetic energy released from solar flares can be observed as multiple phenomena including flare ribbons and post-flare arcades, but also in filament eruptions, coronal mass ejections (CME's) and blow-out jets. Overall, the pre-flare magnetic topology is responsible for deciding which of these phenomena will manifest to produce a solar flare.
Image Credit: NASA
Recently I have been working on ground-and-space-based solar observations from the Swedish Solar Telescope and Solar Dynamics Observatory of a solar flare event associated with a filament eruption and jet, which has been compared to a 3D MHD simulation (Doyle et al. 2019b). These observations provide the evidence to validate the simulation which can be applied to not only jets and CMEs but also confined eruptions and flares. Overall, the magnetic configuration observed in the event and in the simulation can be applied to multiple eruptive phenomena on the Sun. In turn, this can then be applied to stellar scenarios, scaling up the simulation to replicate flare energies observed in other stars. By monitoring the effects this has on the size and strength of sunspots we can determine whether it is likely these flares are generated through a similar magnetic field configuration or if it is more complex. Through this process, it is difficult to replicate the higher energies with realistic magnetic field strengths and spot sizes.
Stellar Flares
In addition to solar flares, stellar flares from both low-mass and solar-type stars have been observed over many decades with energies greatly exceeding 1033 erg. Known as ‘superflares’ these large outbursts can have severe consequences for any orbiting planet’s atmosphere, therefore, understanding their frequency and origin is vital for the existence of life.
Image Credit: NASA & L. Doyle
The brightness of many stars show periodic changes as the star rotates (see image above). This is widely thought to be the result of a dominant, large starspot/active region which is cooler than its surroundings and rotating in and out of view. From observations of the Sun, we know flares typically originate near sunspots, so it is natural to expect flares to originate from starspots in other stars. If the analogy between solar and stellar flares holds, then we would expect to see a correlation between the timing of stellar flares and flare number. I led two studies (Doyle et al. 2018, 2019) using one and two-minute photometric data from K2 and TESS to investigate the timing of flares in samples of 34 and 149 M dwarfs respectively. Utilising a simple statistical test, we investigated whether the distribution of the flares was random and concluded none of the stars in the sample show any preference for certain phase distributions. This is a big surprise, as it implies other stars do not behave like the Sun!
Publications
A full list of my publications and citations can be found on Google Scholar here.
REFEREED (First author)
Doyle L., Armstrong D.J., Acuña L., Osborn A., Sousa S.A.G., Castro-González A., Bourrier V., et al., (2025b), Exploring the Neptunian Desert: Insights from a Homogeneous Planetary Sample, MNRAS, 539(4), 3138-3156
Doyle L., Cañas C.I., Libby-Roberts J.E., Cegla H.M., Stefánsson G.K., et al., (2025a), The First Spin-Orbit Obliquity of an M dwarf/brown dwarf System: An eccentric and aligned TOI-2119 b, MNRAS, 536(4), 3745-3756
Doyle L., Armstrong D.J., Bayliss D., Rodel T., Kunovac V., (2024), The TESS-SPOC FFI target sample explored with Gaia, MNRAS, 529 (2), 1802-1813, doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae616
Doyle L., Cegla H.M., Anderson D.R., Lendl M., Bourrier V., Bryant E., et al., (2023), WASP-131 b with ESPRESSO–I. A bloated sub-Saturn on a polar orbit around a differentially rotating solar-type star, MNRAS, 522 (3), 4499-4514, doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1240
Doyle L., Cegla H. M., Bryant E., Bayliss D., Lafarga M., et al., (2022b), The Hot Neptune WASP-166 b with ESPRESSO I: Refining the Planetary Architecture and Stellar Variability, MNRAS, 522 (3), 4499-4514, doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1240
Doyle L., Bagnulo S., Ramsay G., Doyle J. G., Hakala P., (2022a), The puzzling story of flare inactive ultra-fast rotating M dwarfs – I. Exploring their magnetic fields, MNRAS, 512(1), 979–988, doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac464
Doyle L., Ramsay G., Doyle J. G., (2020), Superflares and Stellar Variability on Solar-Type Stars Using TESS, MNRAS, 494(3), 3596-3610, doi:10.1093/mnras/staa923
Doyle L., Wyper P., Scullion E., et al., (2019b), Observations and 3D MHD Modelling of a Confined Helical Jet Launched by a Filament Eruption, ApJ, 887(2), 256, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab5d39
Doyle L., Ramsay G., Doyle J. G., Wu K., (2019a), Probing the Origin of Stellar Flares on M dwarfs Using TESS Sectors 1 - 3, MNRAS 489, 437-445, doi:10.1093/mnras/stz2205
Doyle L., Ramsay G., Doyle J. G., Wu K., Scullion E., (2018), Investigating the Rotational Phase of Stellar Flares on M dwarfs using K2 Short Cadence Data, MNRAS, 480, 2153-2164, doi:10.1093/mnras/sty1963
Talks and Posters
Throughout my academic career, I have delivered talks and presented posters on my research at a variety of conferences. To date, I have presented a total of 23 oral presentations (including 3 seminars and 4 invited talks) and 8 posters.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
July 2025 Detection and Dynamics of Exoplanets, Coimbra, Portugal
July 2024 TESS Science Conference III, Boston, US
April 2024 UK Exoplanet Meeting, Birmingham, UK
March 2023 EPRV 5, Santa Barbara, US
May 2022 Invited Seminar at Armagh Observatory, UK
May 2022 Exoplanets IV, Las Vegas, US
March 2022 Invited Seminar at Glasgow University, UK
March 2022 Invited Seminar at MSSL University, UK
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
April 2025 UK Exoplanet Meeting, Leeds, UK
July 2024 TESS Science Conference III, Boston, US
June 2022 EAS 2022, Valencia, Spain
July 2021 TESS Science Meeting II, NASA, US
Outreach
One of my main reasons for pursuing an academic research career is my passion for astronomy which I have held since I was a young girl! Communicating my research to the public and inspiring new scientists is something I am very passionate about. During my academic career, I have organised and delivered many large events ranging from public talks to in-school workshops and even co-writting a science activity book.
While a postdoctoral researcher at Warwick, I have worked with many groups across the university including the Physics Department, Warwick Arts Centre, WMG, Chemistry Department and the Warwick Institute of Engagement (WIE).
Planetarium Shows
One of my favourite outreach events is planetarium shows which I have been delivering for over ten years. The reaction from the audience as you take them on a tour of the night sky is something I will never tire of. It is also an amazing resource to talk about a lot of topics within astronomy from how stars form to other galaxies in our universe. Astronomy is such a tangible science, anyone can look up at the stars and search the sky to find hidden wonders. Star gazing is also accessible to everyone and is the most popular topic requested in the planetarium. Being able to talk about and explain my research and how important it is to society while making it still accessible to all is something which is extremely important to me.
A picture of the blow-up mobile planetarium I have worked with over the years.
The Big Bang Fair
Over the past three years, we have been supported by Engineering UK at the Big Bang Fair, which is hosted yearly at the NEC in Birmingham. This massive event is where companies and universities come from across the UK to promote STEM careers to Year 6 – 9 pupils. This event runs over three days in late June every year, and as part of this, I am responsible for organising the Physics contributions to the event. During the first year, I was awarded WIE funding to purchase our Astro Table, a touch table running the software 'Stellar Playground' by Clark Planetarium. It is an interactive software which allows users to experience and explore stellar life cycles, gravitational/orbital mechanics, and the advancement of civilisations by dragging and dropping stars and other exotic celestial objects.
A selection of images from the Big Bang Fair 2023 showing our Astro table in action!
Physics Christmas Lectures
In December 2022, I was selected as one of six researchers who delivered a presentation at the Warwick Physics Christmas Lectures at the Warwick Arts Centre. This involved me giving a 20-minute presentation explaining what an exoplanet is and how we find them! This lecture was presented to an audience of 900 people in Butterworth Hall, which was an amazing experience involving bigger-than-life demonstrations and the opportunity for me to explain my research to such a large audience.
Since then, I have adapted my presentation and delivered it as a 40-minute lesson in many schools across the UK, including Coventry, Birmingham and Glasgow!
A couple of pictures from my presentation at the Warwick Christmas Lecture in December 2022.
Other Events
Other events I have been involved in:
- The Resonate Festival: The Resonate Festival is an annual event at the University of Warwick run by the Warwick Institute of Engagement (WIE), bringing together many different research groups from across STEM. As part of this event I have delivered a 30-minute public talk, run workshops on many of the areas of research within the Astronomy and Astrophysics group, delivered planetarium shows and showcased our Astro Table.
- Space Camps: Space Camp is an overnight stay at schools in the Sutton Coldfield area for Year 5
pupils to give them an insight into topics related to Space. As part of this, I have volunteered over the past few years to deliver multiple talks at several schools over the month of November on the topic of stars, from
how they are born to how they die. - Warwick Giving Day: Giving Day is the University of Warwick’s annual 36-hour fundraising
challenge, bringing together our community to show support for current and future students at
Warwick. I was asked to be interviewed to promote and represent the Astronomy and Astrophysics
Group as part of Giving Day. - National Astronomy Meeting (NAM): For NAM 2022 I was responsible for organising and delivering
eight fully booked shows in the departments' blow-up planetarium for the public Hands on Science
workshop. I was also involved in leading one of the morning sessions for Year 5 pupils on the Sun
and stars for which I received excellent feedback.
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Lauren Doyle,Contact details:
Full CV → here
