Global St Andrews and Bonn Doctoral Scholarship - Physics and Astronomy

The University of St Andrews and the University of Bonn offer a joint doctoral scholarship to support an exceptional student undertaking doctoral research on the project 'Revealing how stars form in Galaxies'. Students will enrol at both institutions from the outset and are expected to spend 50% of their time at each institution. The scholarship provides full funding including tuition fees and stipend for up to 3.5 years. The research project bridges observational astronomy and numerical astrophysics to investigate star formation in galaxies. The student will work with Dr Rowan Smith at St Andrews, who creates innovative zoom-in simulations of entire galaxies and individual stellar systems, and Prof. Frank Bigiel at Bonn, who specializes in astronomical radio and infrared observations of star-forming molecular clouds. The project involves performing radiative transfer simulations to create mock observations matching data from ALMA and JWST telescopes, then processing these through the same pipelines used for real observations. Specific research objectives include investigating how efficiently gas is converted to stars by gravity, determining if observational probes match simulation inputs for gas physics, and performing statistical analysis to identify which observed quantities best predict where stars form across different galaxy locations. The successful candidate will have access to comprehensive training programs, research skills development, and vibrant postgraduate communities at both world-leading research-intensive universities.