Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)
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Matt is Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge. He obtained his Master’s degree at the University of Southampton, while carrying out research at the Harvard Center of Astrophysics. He then returned to the UK in 2007, completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2011. After a year working as a researcher at the University of Arizona, he returned to Cambridge in 2012. Matt is a science communicator, who gives astronomy talks and lectures on almost any area of astronomy to a wide range of ages. When he is not doing outreach, Matt is an observational astronomer, who uses a range of state-of-the-art observing facilities to study the evolution of galaxies across cosmic time.
My research interests are centred around understanding galaxy evolution across cosmic time.
High-redshift dusty galaxies: At high redshift, I study some of the most luminous and extreme galaxies in the Universe. Selected at far-IR/mm wavelengths, these distant dusty galaxies are forming stars thousands of times faster than typical galaxies in the local Universe (like the Milky Way). These extreme galaxies are a great laboratory for testing our knowledge of gas physics, star formation laws, and galaxy evolution, while providing an important challenge for our understanding of the growth of structure in the Universe. My work in this area focusses on radio and sub-mm observations of dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs), aiming to characterise the composition and conditions of the interstellar medium of these extreme systems.
Local scaling relations: The nearby Universe also provides a useful view with which to understand the galaxies. The early stages of galaxy evolution leave telltale footprints in the properties of local galaxies, which can be studied in huge numbers using the latest generation of surveys. In the local Universe I use large surveys for gas, metals, and stars, to shed light on the physical processes governing the evolution of galaxies across all cosmic epochs. In the local Universe, my work involves using large surveys for molecular (H2) and atomic (HI) gas to reveal the fundamental relations between gas, star formation, and metallicity. I am the lead investigator of the ESO large programme ALLSMOG.
