Rate My Professor Philip Lucas

Professor Philip Lucas is Professor of Astrophysics in the Centre for Astrophysics Research at the University of Hertfordshire, within the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics in the School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science. He earned his DPhil in Astrophysics from the University of Oxford in early 1997, supervised by Prof Patrick Roche on star formation and infrared instrumentation, and holds an MA from Oxford following his degree in Physics. Joining the University of Hertfordshire in late 1999 as a full-time researcher on a research fellowship, he began lecturing in physics, astrophysics, and mathematics in 2007. He serves as the UH Research Theme Champion for Space, promoting research in atmospheric physics, mathematics, quantum physics, and related areas. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS), Lucas has led significant astronomical surveys, including the UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey (UGPS), which provided infrared photometry for nearly one billion stars in northern and equatorial skies.

Lucas's research focuses on star formation, brown dwarfs, extrasolar planets, and infrared time-domain surveys of the Milky Way Galaxy. He co-leads the VVV (Variables in the Via Lactea) and VVVX surveys, utilizing the Visible and Infrared Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) in Chile to deliver photometric data for over 1.5 billion stars observed from 2010 to 2022. His work incorporates polarization and adaptive optics for detailed studies of individual stars. Key publications include 'A near-infrared stellar atlas of the Galactic plane from the VVVX survey' (2026, Astronomy & Astrophysics), 'Young Stellar Objects in the Carina Nebula: Near-infrared Variability and Spectroscopy' (2025, The Astronomical Journal), 'The Outbursting YSOs Catalogue (OYCAT)' (2025, Journal of the Korean Astronomical Society), 'VVV-WIT-13: an eruptive young star with cool molecular features' (2025, Astronomy & Astrophysics), and '“Oh FUors, Where Art Thou?”: A Search for Long-lasting Young Stellar Object Outbursts Hiding in Infrared Surveys' (2025, The Astrophysical Journal). With 189 research articles and collaborations on projects like The Nature and Origins of Eruptive Variability in YSOs and GESTATE, his contributions have advanced understanding of galactic star populations and variability.