We are excited to welcome applicants for PhD places with an October 2025 start! The deadline for submission of your application (apply hereLink opens in a new window) is 11 am GMT on January 8th, 2025. Applicants who reach the second round of the application process and who will be in the UK during the second week of February will be invited to visit the university during February 10th-13th, 2025.

In addition to fully funded places through university funding, STFC allocations and direct research grants, we also have available up to 3 prestigious Warwick PhD Prize Scholarships in Astrophysics: these scholarships will be available to both national and international candidates, and would cover all fees and offer 4 years of stipend, as well as access to research funds to cover travel, computer equipment and consumables. You will be automatically considered for these scholarships upon receipt of your completed application.

Further, additional funding routes might be available to people who self-identify as black (this linkLink opens in a new window) or/and hold a People's Republic of China passport (this linkLink opens in a new window). If you would like to be considered for such funding, then please let us know at those links. This information is confidential and will not be considered when assessing applications.

Below are listed our key research themes and academic advisors, along with the available PhD projects for this application round. Projects can be tailored to the interests of individual students. In all cases, a completed application is necessary: in the application formLink opens in a new window, (1) state clearly that you are interested in a place in the Astronomy and Astrophysics research group, and (2) specify projects that you are interested in from the below list. We encourage applicants to identify more than one potential project.

For queries, please see our Frequently Asked QuestionsLink opens in a new window page, which also contains contact information.

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Potential Astronomy PhD Projects for a October 2025 start

Supervisor: David Armstrong. Project Title: Exploring populations of planets with the NASA Roman telescopeLink opens in a new window

Supervisor: Daniel Bayliss. Project Title: Exploring the architecture of exoplanet systemsLink opens in a new window

Supervisors: Paul Chote/James McCormac/Don Pollacco/Dimitri Veras. Project Title: Prospects for spacecraft traffic control in cis-lunar orbitsLink opens in a new window

Supervisor: Farzana Meru. Project Title: Planet formation and evolution in young protoplanetary discsLink opens in a new window

Supervisors: Danny Steeghs/Joseph Lyman. Project Title: Time-domain astronomy related to extragalactic transients and stellar explosionsLink opens in a new window

Supervisor: Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay. Project Title: Simulations of stellar convection and accretion of planetary debrisLink opens in a new window

Supervisors: Richard West/Daniel Bayliss/James McCormac/Peter Wheatley. Project Title: Hunting for temperate exoplanets with TESS and NGTS

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Overview of Astronomy research areas

White dwarfs and the local stellar neighbourhoodLink opens in a new window

Key staff: Coppejans, Gänsicke, Pelisoli, Steeghs, Tremblay, Veras

Our main interest is the study of compact stellar remnants, both single and in interacting binaries. We pursue population studies using large surveys, precision studies with custom high-time resolution instruments as well as detailed theoretical modeling.

Extra-solar planetsLink opens in a new window

Key staff: Armstrong, Bayliss, Brogi, Brown, Cegla, Gandhi, Gänsicke, Pollacco, Strøm, Tremblay, Veras, West, Wilson, Wheatley

Our exoplanetary activities include observation, instrumentation and theory. We are actively engaged in detecting and characterising exoplanetary systems across the full spectrum of size (gas giant, ice giant, super-Earth, terrestrial, asteroidal, dust), time (formation & evolution, main-sequence, post-main-sequence) and host-star characteristics (M stars, G stars, white dwarfs, binaries). We study planetary atmospheres, composition, habitability and dynamics.

Circumstellar discsLink opens in a new window

Key staff: Kennedy, Meru, Nealon, Veras

We study the disks that orbit other stars like our Sun using theory and observation. Some of these disks are in the process of forming planets, and others are similar to the Solar System’s Asteroid and Kuiper belts. These disks reveal information about the origins of other planetary systems, and help place the Solar System in context.

Stellar populations across cosmic time

Key staff: Lyman, Stanway

Understanding where and when galaxies formed the majority of their stars is key to understanding the processes of galaxy assembling, stripping and merging which have shaped them into the complex systems we see today. There are various approaches to this: through direct observation of young distant galaxies, through unravelling the history of today's systems, or through comparison to stellar population synthesis models.

Explosive transients and multi-messenger astronomyLink opens in a new window

Key staff: Coppejans, Lyman, Stanway, Steeghs, Ulaczyk

We have an interest in exotic and energetic transients where we chase the transients themselves as well as the host galaxies they occur in. Of particular interest are short gamma-ray bursts, tidal disruption events and electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources. For the latter, the group is leading the deployment of the GOTO robotic telescope.

Space domain awarenessLink opens in a new window

Key staff: Chote, McCormac, Pollacco

We tackle issues relating to the safety and sustainability of satellite operations in the space domain. Research activities include:

• the timely acquisition of precise datasets to detect, track and/or characterise objects in orbit;
• the fusion of physical and human-based information for improved object tracking;
• the modelling and prediction of space weather, and the quantification of associated risk.