Professor Suzanne Aigrain
Professor of Astrophysics
MSc, PhD
University Academic Fellow since 2010
My research concerns the detection and characterisation of exoplanets and their host stars. I am interested both in exploring the full diversity of planets and planetary systems in the Galaxy, and in understanding the frequency and characteristics of other worlds that might be hospitable to extra-terrestrial life. I use data from space telescopes such as CoRoT, Kepler, and Hubble, as well as a range of ground-based telescopes, to discover new transiting planets and probe their atmospheres, and am involved in future space missions such as PLATO. I also work with the Machine Learning Research Group in the department of Engineering Science, using state of the art statistical methods to extract faint planetary signals in large, noisy time-series datasets.
- University Lecturer in Astrophysics (from 2010)
- University Academic Fellow, All Souls College (from 2010)
- Lecturer in Astrophysics, School of Physics, University of Exeter (from 2007 to 2010)
- Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge (from 2004 to 2007)
- Doctoral student, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge & Corpus Christi College (from 2001 to 2004)
- Postgraduate, Physics, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London (from 1996 to 2000)
- Detection and characterisation of extra-solar planets
- Evolution of young low-mass stars and brown dwarfs
- Ultra-high precision photometry
- Member of the European Space Agency’s Astronomy Working Group (from 2008 to 2010)
- Young Graduate Trainee, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, The Netherlands (2001)