James Mullaney
Senior Lecturer in the Astronomy Group at the University of Sheffield
I am a research astronomer interested in developing new ways to extract useful information from large amounts of astronomical data.
My team's core research focusses on processing and analysing data from the world's most advanced telescopes to reveal the underlying connections between supermassive black holes and the galaxies that host them. To achieve this we exploit advanced statistical and computational techniques including Bayesian statistics, machine learning, and distributed data processing.
I am an enthusiastic teacher. We live in a fascinating Universe, and I enjoy sharing my love of learning about it with my students.
Our team investigates how galaxies like our own Milky Way have grown and evolved over the past 13.6 billion years, by conducting surveys of galaxies to measure how they've changed over time. It's like a census, but our subjects contain billions of stars!
I deliver two lecture courses: Introduction to cosmology and Galaxy formation and evolution. I also supervise Level 3 astronomy projects, in which students conduct research using our 0.5m telescope on La Palma, and Level 4 astronomy research projects.
I am the study abroad tutor for the Department of Physics and Astronomy, helping our students spend a year studying in a different country. I am also the postgraduate tutor in the astronomy group, overseeing PhD student development and recruitment.