PhD Studentship: The Formation and Evolution of Planets

School/Faculty: Physics & Astronomy

Number of Positions Available: 1 

Closing Date: 8 January 2025 

Eligibility: UK Only 

Funding: Leverhulme Trust Award consisting of the award of fees, together with a tax-free maintenance grant of £19,237 per year for 3.5 years.  

Lead Supervisor’s full name & email address 

Dr Richard Booth: r.a.booth@leeds.ac.uk 

Co-supervisor’s full name & email address 

Dr Olja Panic: o.panic@leeds.ac.uk 

Project summary 

We are pleased to advertise a fully-funded PhD position in planet formation and evolution. While we now know that planetary systems are ubiquitous, most planetary systems are quite unlike our own, and it is unclear how these planets came to be. You will work with Dr Richard Booth to investigate how the solid components of planets are assembled from the micron- to millimetre-sized dust grains present in ‘protoplanetary’ discs. You will use theory and numerical simulations to tackle this problem from a range of directions, for example, by studying how growing planets affect their environments. 

With the arrival of JWST, we can now characterize the atmospheres of exoplanets, which is driving a demand to understand the atmospheres of these planets and tell us about how the planets formed and evolved. Knowing how the building blocks of planets evolve is central to achieving this. You will investigate how planets affect the building blocks in their surroundings, using your results to interpret the latest observational results. By choosing the University of Leeds, you will join a thriving group of researchers studying star and planet formation, exoplanets, and planetary climate.

Please note that funding is time-limited and you must be able to start your PhD by no later than 1 October 2025. 

Please state your entry requirements plus any necessary or desired background 

A first class or an upper second class British Bachelors Honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline. 

Subject Area 

Astrophysics 

Keywords

Astrophysics, planet formation, protoplanetary discs

Advert information