Introducing Emma Alexander

Emma Alexander (@Emma_Alexander) is a radio astronomer studying the magnetic fields of radio galaxies. She is currently doing her PhD at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics (University of Manchester, UK), working on POSSUM, the POlarisation Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism. POSSUM is of the projects currently being undertaken with ASKAP, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope, and covers a wide range of polarisation and magnetism science. Emma focuses on well-resolved radio galaxies and the magnetic fields of their lobes, which are radio-bright structures extending from the central Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN).

Emma also has a background in amateur astronomy, but doesn’t get the chance to get out of the city as often as she’d like to observe. She is also active in scientific outreach – both in person and through media – including appearances on national radio and working on the Jodcast (@Jodcast), an astronomy podcast run by Jodrell Bank astronomers. Outside of astronomy, she enjoys playing netball, cooking & baking vegan foods, and looking after her pets: two guinea pigs and a cat.

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Introducing Josephine Peters

Josephine Peters (@josieapeters) is a PhD student at the University of Oxford. She researches galaxy evolution with data from radio interferometers; the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR). She takes samples of hundreds of galaxies and looks at how their luminosity changes over the history of the Universe. Before her PhD, Josie did an MSc at the University of Manchester and a BSc in Maths at King’s College London. It was outreach in the form of a photography exhibition that inspired Josie to go into astronomy.

To share her love of astronomy (and hopefully inspire others as she was inspired), Josie presents videos on astronomy news, explains topics such as spacetime and quasars, and interviews other astronomers.

When other aspects of science grab her curiosity, Josie co-presents a new podcast called A Piece of String (@StringPodcast), that brings together comedians and scientific minds to answer the biggest of all questions, ever.

Beyond science, Josie spends her time drawing silly comics (@artartyeahart), performing improvised comedy with The Oxford Imps and singing loudly.