The Late Stages of Galaxy Evolution – a project with the Euclid Space Observatory

About the Project

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) make it possible to obtain high-resolution images of tiny areas of sky. The Euclid Observatory, which was launched in July 2023, will carry out a survey of the sky with the resolution of HST but over most of the sky. Whereas HST and JWST make it possible to study the evolution of galaxies over the first few billion years after the big bang, Euclid will make it possible to study the evolution of galaxies over the last eight billion years, the period in which the overall star-formation rate in the universe decreased by a factor of 10 and in which spheroidal galaxies became as important as the disk galaxies that dominated the universe before this time. The student will work with our group and the Euclid team (Eales is a Euclid team member) on using the Euclid data to investigate galaxy evolution during this important period. In particular, we plan to combine the Euclid images with our earlier submillimetre survey with the Herschel Space Observatory to investigate how the galaxy types, optical structures and the gas content of the galaxy population evolved over the last eight billion years.

For more information, or if there are any questions, please contact Professor Stephen Eales EalesSA@cardiff.ac.uk

The typical academic requirement is a minimum of a 2:1 physics and astronomy or a relevant discipline.

Applicants whose first language is not English are normally expected to meet the minimum University requirements (e.g. IELTS 6.5 Overall with 5.5 minimum in sub-scores) (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/international/english-language-requirements)

How to apply

Applicants should apply to the Doctor of Philosophy in Physics and Astronomy.

Applicants should submit an application for postgraduate study via the Cardiff University webpages (https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/programmes/programme/physics-and-astronomy) including:

• your academic CV
• Your degree certificates and transcripts to date including certified translations if these are not in English
• a personal statement/covering letter
• two references, at least one of which should be academic. Your references can be emailed by the referee to physics-admissions@cardiff.ac.uk

Please note: We are do not contact referees directly for references for each applicant due to the volume of applications we receive.

In the "Research Proposal" section of your application, please specify the project title and supervisors of this project.

In the funding section, please select that you will be self-funded or include your own sponsorship or scholarship details.

Once your application is submitted, we will review it and advise you within a few weeks if you have been shortlisted for an interview.

Funding Notes

This project is offered for self-funded students only, or those with their own sponsorship or scholarship award.