PhD Projects

PhD projects for entry in Autumn 2026 are summarised at the links below for the various research areas, with contact details for staff members involved. While we encourage candidates for PhD studies to indicate in their applications those areas of research that are of particular interest to them (as well as indicating potential supervisors, where appropriate), the specific projects outlined should be regarded as indicative rather than exclusive or rigid. 

In practice, students, supervisors, and projects are matched through an iterative process (based primarily on students' interests). It is the nature of research that projects may evolve and develop in new directions.

Research topics on offer loosely fall into six broad categories:

• Astronomical Instrumentation
• Cosmology and Surveys
• Extragalactic Astrophysics
• Galactic Astrophysics
• Gravitational Wave Science
• Planetary / Exoplanetary Science

More details of the current research being carried out by the UCL Astrophysics Group can be found on our research page.

Those interested in the application of Big Data, Machine Learning and other methodologies to Astrophysics research problems should also look at the Data Intensive Science CDT studentships.