Born and raised in Liverpool, Emily graduated with a first class Astrophysics MPhys degree in July 2023 from the UoL and LJMU joint degree course. During this time, she endeavoured to experience as many areas of physics as possible and soon developed a love for cosmology and an intrigue with black holes.
Supervised by Ian McCarthy and Jaime Salcido from the LJMU Astrophysics Research Institute, her masters project focussed on using the BAHAMAS cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the impact of central and wandering black hole populations on galaxy groups and clusters, specifically exploring the effects of black hole feedback in setting the baryonic content of the Universe.
She aims to continue this research during her PhD by using weak gravitational lensing data and studying hot ionised gas to directly measure the impact of supermassive black holes on galaxies over a wide range of redshifts and mass scales. With this observational data, Emily aims to assess the realism of black hole feedback within the state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamical simulations from the FLAMINGO and BAHAMAS projects within the context of galaxy formation and cosmology.
Emily’s background in performance and love of literature has inspired a passion for outreach and science communication that she is excited to continue during her PhD. Known as a real busy bee in the department, Emily took every opportunity offered to her during her undergraduate degree – from being astrophysics course representative and running the Book Society to giving the valedictory speech during her graduation ceremony, she’s excited to see where her PhD may lead.