Find here specific details on the Astrophysics PhD application process, including a summary timetable of funding deadlines, interviews and final decisions for 2027 entry, as well as a list of projects and their advisors.
Date |
Event |
Actions for prospective applicants |
|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | List of PhD research areas/topics available on the web (see below). | Review projects on offer.
Check course details and application procedure on the Postgraduate Study website. Complete and submit application. |
| 14 October 2026 | Gates funding deadline (US citizens resident in USA) | All courses |
| 8 December 2026 | All other applicants funding deadline | All courses |
| January 2027 | Interviews with supervisors usually by Zoom/Teams | *Please get in touch if you submit after the funding deadline since there may be still funding opportunities left. |
| From February 2027 | Candidates informed by email of the results of their application | Consider and reply to offer |
The upcoming scientific programme of the AP Group is built around the following primary areas. Please note that the summaries below provide only a snapshot and overview of the broad research areas undertaken by staff in the group.
Advisors: Didier Queloz, Samantha Thompson
This includes active participation in the development of new instruments as well as the use of ground and space observatories. Our work is conducted in collaboration with other Cambridge institutes as well as other teams in the UK and in Europe.
Advisor: Paul B Rimmer
Prebiotic chemistry and origins of life must be studied in a planetary context. Recent breakthroughs in origins of life research have revealed that this planetary context is also astrophysical: to understand prebiotic chemistry on a planet, we need to understand the nature of that planet’s star. This connection has given rise to a new sub-field in Astrophysics: Planetary Astrochemistry. Prospective students interested in pursuing experimental or computational research in this nascent field are encouraged to go to this webpage for more information.
Advisors: Roberto Maiolino, Sandro Tacchella, Francesco D’Eugenio
The investigation of galaxy formation and evolution, from the Cosmic Dawn to the nearby Universe, by exploiting observations in the millimeter, infrared and optical bands, obtained at some the major groundbased and space observatories (e.g. Atacama Large Millimetre Array, Very Large Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope). Our research areas include the coevolution of star formation and black holes, the dynamics of high redshift galaxies, the evolution of the gas content in galaxies (including gas flows), the evolution of the chemical enrichment and the evolution of the dust properties in galaxies. These observational studies exploit samples spanning from galaxies in the local Universe to the most distant objects known. We also use and develop analytical and cosmological numerical models to shed light on the physical properties of galaxies. This group is located in the Kavli Institute for Cosmology. Additional information on the activities of this research group and potential topics for PhD projects can be found at the following pages:
Advisors: Eloy de Lera Acedo, Mark Ashdown, Charles Walker, Quentin Gueuning
We welcome applications from individuals wishing to enrol in an exciting cutting-edge research program on radio cosmology, with a special interest on experiments for the study of the Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Re-ionization. Probing these epochs, the ‘dark ages‘ before the first galaxies, through cosmic re-ionization and first new light, represents the frontier in studies of cosmic structure formation. Neutral hydrogen has a rest wavelength of 21 cm and by observing at low radio frequencies we can study directly redshifted emission (and absorption) from the raw material that formed the first luminous cosmic structures. Topics currently available include:
Advisor: Lucy Oswald
I am recruiting two candidates for fully funded PhD positions starting October 2027. One is a PhD project with funding available for Home students, with applications going through the standard route for Physics PhD applications. The other is a position for a Research Assistant who would be funded to complete a PhD during their employment, as part of the ERC-funded project PulsarMAP (both Home and International applicants would be eligible for this position). The application deadline for both positions is 8 December 2026 (the central course funding deadline) in order to align with the standard PhD recruitment timeline at Cambridge, however the successful applicant will not need to compete separately for funding.
Why is pulsar radio emission time-variable? How does the pulsar magnetic field evolve over its lifetime? The answers will change the landscape of fundamental physics, advancing our understanding of the universe’s most extreme environments and transforming the search for gravitational waves with pulsar timing arrays. Pulsars are spinning magnetized neutron stars emitting a beam of radio waves, and this radio beam is our direct observational link to an environment with some of the highest densities and gravitational field strengths imaginable. The key to answering those two questions is that they are connected: time-variability originates in the pulsar magnetosphere and is affected by the magnetic field. The PulsarMAP team is exploiting this connection to understand neutron star evolution as a whole.
PulsarMAP is made up of three projects which seek to map the evolution of neutron stars, capitalising on surveys, statistics and machine-learning. Their objectives, and the impact of the results, are as follows:
A PhD position is an opportunity to direct your enthusiasm and creativity into ground-breaking research, with support to develop the skills you need to become a leader in your field. In this project, you will push the boundaries of our understanding of extreme neutron star physics, developing your own research ideas and building expertise in large-scale data science. If you are interested in one or more of the PulsarMAP projects then I would welcome your application. Please feel free to get in touch at lo280@cam.ac.uk if you would like more information. Further details can be found on my group website.
Advisor: Boris Bolliet
We explore ML and AI methods to accelerate discoveries in cosmology, with a focus on the interpretation of ground based Cosmic Microwave Background data. We currently have two main areas of research: (i) deep neural network emulators of cosmological observables where we search for the optimal deep neural network architecture that can reproduce accurate observables in the fastest possible compute time (see here and there for recent work); and (ii) Large Language Model agents for automating and optimising cosmological data analysis pipelines (more information will be shared upon request). Both lines of research are expected to lead to direct applications on real data from the upcoming Simons Observatory Telescope observations, as well as public softwares for the benefit of the broader community (see here and there for recent examples of softwares previously released by us).
Advisors: David Buscher, Chris Haniff, Roberto Maiolino, John Young
We develop hardware, software, and techniques for the next generation of long-baseline optical interferometers and high-resolution astronomical spectrographs. Potential project topics include: high-sensitivity interferometric beam combiners, low-noise infrared array detectors, algorithms for analysis of interferometric data, image reconstruction for optical interferometers, novel techniques for the manufacture and testing of metre-sized diffraction gratings, and development and testing of ultra-high-precision calibration techniques for astronomical spectrographs.