Biography

Research interests: Supermassive Black Hole mass measurements using reverberation mapping, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and general relativistic Black Hole simulations.

Andrew is a final Year PhD student at UQ working under the supervision of Prof. Tamara Davis studying black holes. Black holes are the most extreme and mysterious objects in our universe. While they are, by definition, not directly observable, the influence they have on the environment around them can be observed and analysed. Using a technique known as Reverberation Mapping my PhD aims to measure the masses of supermassive black holes that lie in the centre of distance active galaxies using the light they emit. Using data gathered by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) as well as the Australian Dark Energy Survey (OzDES) this information can be used to calibrate other black hole mass measurements and help us better understand how black holes have evolved throughout the lifetime of our universe.

In his 8 years at UQ Andrew has also been an active member of PAIN UQ Physics club, organising their Astrocamp from 2017-2020. As well as leading two teams to the International Physicist’s Tournament in Paris in 2016 and Lausanne in 2019. As well as a passion for scientific research, he also has a deep love of science education leading him to invest strongly in tutoring at UQ, teaching SCIE1000/1100 for the last 5 years among others.