The Group
PI
Will Handley
- PI from Oct 2020
- Post-Doc from Oct 2016 to Oct 2020
- PhD student from Oct 2012 to Sep 2016
- co-supervised with Anthony Lasenby, Mike Hobson
- Thesis: Kinetic initial conditions for inflation: theory, observation and methods
- arXiv papers (125)
- Links:
Post-Docs
Natalie Hogg
- Post-Doc from Oct 2025
Matt Grayling
- Post-Doc from Oct 2025
- Group research papers:
Chris Lovell
- Post-Doc from Jul 2025
- Group research papers:
- Flexible Simulation Based Inference for Galaxy Photometric Fitting with Synthesizer
- Think inside the box: cosmic variance and large-scale conformity of high-redshift massive galaxies in the FLAMINGO simulations
- Galactification: painting galaxies onto dark matter only simulations using a transformer-based model
- Predicting the Subhalo Mass Functions in Simulations from Galaxy Images
- Synthesizer: a Software Package for Synthetic Astronomical Observables
Jiamin Hou
- Post-Doc from Jun 2025
- Group research papers:
- Links:
David Yallup
- Post-Doc from Jan 2021
- Group research papers:
- A Bayesian Perspective on Evidence for Evolving Dark Energy
- Parallel Nested Slice Sampling for Gravitational Wave Parameter Estimation
- High-Dimensional Bayesian Model Comparison in Cosmology with GPU-accelerated Nested Sampling and Neural Emulators
- Gravitational-wave inference at GPU speed: A bilby-like nested sampling kernel within blackjax-ns
- Kernel-, mean- and noise-marginalised Gaussian processes for exoplanet transits and $H_0$ inference
- Hunting for bumps in the margins
- Nested sampling for physical scientists
- Split personalities in Bayesian Neural Networks: the case for full marginalisation
- Exploring phase space with Nested Sampling
- Links:
PhD students
Charlotte Priestley
- PhD student from Oct 2025
- Part III student from Oct 2024 to Jun 2025
- co-supervised with Harry Bevins
- Summer student from Jul 2024 to Aug 2024
- co-supervised with Harry Bevins
Toby Lovick
- PhD student from Oct 2024
- Part III student from Oct 2022 to Jun 2023
- co-supervised with Suhail Dhawan
- Summer student from Jul 2023 to Sep 2023
- co-supervised with Suhail Dhawan
- Group research papers:
Namu Kroupa
- PhD student from Oct 2023
- co-supervised with Gábor Csányi
- Summer student from Jun 2023 to Sep 2023
- Group research papers:
Dily Ong
- PhD student from Oct 2023
- Group research papers:
Sam Leeney
- PhD student from Oct 2023
- co-supervised with Eloy de Lera Acedo, Harry Bevins
- MPhil student from Apr 2022 to Dec 2022
- co-supervised with Eloy de Lera Acedo
- Thesis: Data science in early universe Cosmology: a novel Bayesian RFI mitigation approach using numerical sampling techniques
- Group research papers:
- Bayesian Anomaly Detection for Ia Cosmology: Automating SALT3 Data Curation
- JAX-bandflux: differentiable supernovae SALT modelling for cosmological analysis on GPUs
- Accounting for Noise and Singularities in Bayesian Calibration Methods for Global 21-cm Cosmology Experiments
- Bayesian approach to radio frequency interference mitigation
- Links:
Metha Prathaban
- PhD student from Oct 2022
- Part III student from Oct 2020 to Jun 2021
- Thesis: Evidence for a Palindromic Universe
- Group research papers:
- Parallel Nested Slice Sampling for Gravitational Wave Parameter Estimation
- Gravitational-wave inference at GPU speed: A bilby-like nested sampling kernel within blackjax-ns
- Accelerated nested sampling with $β$-flows for gravitational waves
- Costless correction of chain based nested sampling parameter estimation in gravitational wave data and beyond
- Rescuing Palindromic Universes with Improved Recombination Modelling
- Links:
Wei-Ning Deng
- PhD student from Oct 2022
- Group research papers:
Part III students
Past Post-Docs
Thomas Gessey-Jones
- Post-Doc from Apr 2024 to Aug 2024
- PhD student from Oct 2020 to Mar 2024
- co-supervised with Eloy de Lera Acedo, Anastasia Fialkov
- Thesis: Probing the First Stars with the 21-cm Signal: Theory, Methods, and Forecasts
- Part III student from Oct 2019 to Jun 2020
- Thesis: Initial Conditions Before Inflation
- Group research papers:
- On the accuracy of posterior recovery with neural network emulators
- The mass distribution of the first stars can be determined via the 21-cm signal
- Calibrating Bayesian Tension Statistics using Neural Ratio Estimation
- On the Constraints on Superconducting Cosmic Strings from 21-cm Cosmology
- Fully Bayesian Forecasts with Evidence Networks
- Piecewise Normalizing Flows
- Signatures of Cosmic Ray Heating in 21-cm Observables
- Impact of the Primordial Stellar Initial Mass Function on the 21-cm Signal
- Constraining Quantum Initial Conditions before Inflation
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Aug 2024: PhysicsX
Kamran Javid
- Post-Doc from Oct 2018 to Oct 2019
- PhD student from Oct 2017 to Sep 2018
- Group research papers:
- GLOBALEMU: A novel and robust approach for emulating the sky-averaged 21-cm signal from the cosmic dawn and epoch of reionisation
- Compromise-free Bayesian neural networks
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Jan 2023: Quantitative Research & Development (systematic trading), ADIA, United Arab Emirates
- Oct 2019: AI Researcher (systematic trading), Arabesque AI, London
Past PhD students
Adam Ormondroyd
- PhD student from Oct 2021 to Sep 2025
- co-supervised with Mike Hobson, Anthony Lasenby
- Thesis: Bayesian methods in a flexible universe: sampling, tension and dark energy
- Group research papers:
- Dynamic or Systematic? Bayesian model selection between dark energy and supernova biases
- Alleviating the Hubble tension with Torsion Condensation (TorC)
- Comparison of dynamical dark energy with ΛCDM in light of DESI DR2
- Nonparametric reconstructions of dynamical dark energy via flexknots
- Balancing ACT: weighing prior dependency and global tensions of DR6 lensing with other datasets
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2025: Data Scientist at PolyChord Ltd
Ayngaran Thavanesan
- PhD student from Oct 2021 to Jan 2023
- co-supervised with David Stefanyszyn
- Group research papers:
Kilian Scheutwinkel
- PhD student from Dec 2020 to Aug 2024
- co-supervised with Eloy de Lera Acedo
- Thesis: Simulation-based Bayesian machine learning methods for Cosmology and beyond
- Group research papers:
- Bayesian evidence-driven likelihood selection for sky-averaged 21-cm signal extraction
- Bayesian evidence-driven diagnosis of instrumental systematics for sky-averaged 21-cm cosmology experiments
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Sep 2024: TRGC (Venture fund focussed on digital assets)
Thomas Mcaloone
- PhD student from Jun 2020 to Sep 2021
- co-supervised with Keith Grainge, Malak Olamaie
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2021: Data scientist (PolyChord Ltd)
Isidro Gomez Vargas
- PhD student from Mar 2020 to Dec 2020
- co-supervised with Jose Alberto Vazquez
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Nov 2021: Postdoc at UNAM (mexico)
Ian Roque
- PhD student from Oct 2019 to Dec 2023
- co-supervised with Nima Razavi-Ghods
- Thesis: EXCALIBRATE: Calibration for astrophysical experimentation
- MPhil student from Oct 2018 to Sep 2019
- co-supervised with Nima Razavi-Ghods
- Thesis: Bayesian Techniques for the Calibration of 21 cm Global Experiments
- Group research papers:
- Accounting for Noise and Singularities in Bayesian Calibration Methods for Global 21-cm Cosmology Experiments
- Bayesian noise wave calibration for 21-cm global experiments
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Aug 2024: Stanford SLAC staff engineer
Dominic Anstey
- PhD student from Oct 2018 to Sep 2022
- co-supervised with Eloy de Lera Acedo
- Thesis: Data Analysis in Global 21cm Experiments: Physically Motivated Bayesian Modelling Techniques
- Group research papers:
- Rapid and Late Cosmic Reionization Driven by Massive Galaxies: a Joint Analysis of Constraints from 21-cm, Lyman Line & CMB Data Sets
- Accounting for Noise and Singularities in Bayesian Calibration Methods for Global 21-cm Cosmology Experiments
- A General Bayesian Framework to Account for Foreground Map Errors in Global 21-cm Experiments
- Use of Time Dependent Data in Bayesian Global 21cm Foreground and Signal Modelling
- Informing antenna design for sky-averaged 21-cm experiments using a simulated Bayesian data analysis pipeline
- Quantifying Ionospheric Effects on Global 21-cm Observations
- A General Bayesian Framework for Foreground Modelling and Chromaticity Correction for Global 21cm Experiments
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: Postdoc at Cambridge (UK)
Fruzsina Agocs
- PhD student from Oct 2017 to Sep 2021
- co-supervised with Anthony Lasenby, Mike Hobson
- Thesis: Primordial evolution of cosmological perturbations: Theory and computation
- Part III student from Oct 2016 to Jun 2017
- Thesis: The Runge–Kutta–Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin method and the primordial Universe
- Group research papers:
- Quantum initial conditions for curved inflating universes
- Finite inflation in curved space
- Dense output for highly oscillatory numerical solutions
- Quantum initial conditions for inflation and canonical invariance
- An efficient method for solving highly oscillatory ordinary differential equations with applications to physical systems
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2021: 3y fellowship CCM New York
- Oct 2024: Assistant Professor at Boulder, Colorado
Lukas Hergt
- PhD student from Jan 2017 to Jan 2021
- co-supervised with Anthony Lasenby, Mike Hobson
- Thesis: Constraining the kinetically dominated Universe
- Group research papers:
- Finite inflation in curved space
- Bayesian evidence for the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and neutrino masses $m_ν$: Effects of uniform vs logarithmic priors
- Quantum initial conditions for inflation and canonical invariance
- Constraining the kinetically dominated Universe
- A case for kinetically dominated initial conditions for inflation
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Jan 2021: 4-year cosmology fellowship in UBC
Ed Higson
- PhD student from Oct 2016 to Oct 2018
- co-supervised with Mike Hobson, Anthony Lasenby
- Thesis: Bayesian Methods and machine Learning in Astrophysics
- Group research papers:
- Nested sampling for physical scientists
- Bayesian sparse reconstruction: a brute-force approach to astronomical imaging and machine learning
- nestcheck: diagnostic tests for nested sampling calculations
- Towards a framework for testing general relativity with extreme-mass-ratio-inspiral observations
- Dynamic nested sampling: an improved algorithm for parameter estimation and evidence calculation
- Sampling Errors in Nested Sampling Parameter Estimation
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2017: Goldman Sachs (UK finance)
- May 2020: DE Shaw (US finance)
Past MPhil students
Danielle Dineen
- MPhil student from Oct 2022 to Sep 2023
- Thesis: Cosmological Matching Conditions for Primordial Perturbations
- Group research papers:
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2023: PhD in Cosmology, Toronto
Allahyar Sahibzada
- MPhil student from Oct 2021 to Dec 2022
- Thesis: Machine Learning and Nested Sampling: in the context of data intensive science and cosmology
Emma Shen
- MPhil student from Oct 2019 to Sep 2020
- co-supervised with Eloy de Lera Acedo, Anastasia Fialkov
- Thesis: Ionospheric Effects in the Global 21-cm Experiment
- Group research papers:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2021: PhD in Radio astronomy, Cambridge
Panagiotis Mavrogiannis
- MPhil student from Oct 2017 to Sep 2018
- co-supervised with Anthony Lasenby
- Thesis: Wheeler–Feynman absorber theory of radiation: Establishing the cosmological electrodynamic arrow of time
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2018: PhD in Astrophysics, Thessaloniki, Greece
Past Part III students
Harvey Williams
- Part III student from Oct 2024 to Jun 2025
- Group research papers:
Ming Yang
- Part III student from Oct 2024 to Jun 2025
- Group research papers:
Will Templeton
- Part III student from Oct 2024 to Jun 2025
- Group research papers:
Tze Goh
- Part III student from Oct 2023 to Jun 2024
- co-supervised with Suhail Dhawan
- Thesis: Bayesian Model Selection of Anisotropic Cosmologies with Type Ia supernova data
Felicity Ibrahim
- Part III student from Oct 2023 to Jun 2024
- Thesis: Higher order solvers for cosmological perturbations
Zixiao Hu
- Part III student from Oct 2022 to Jun 2023
- Thesis: Approximating the end of nested sampling
- Summer student from Jun 2023 to Aug 2023
- Group research papers:
Sankalan Bhattacharyya
- Part III student from Oct 2022 to Jun 2023
- Thesis: Jordan-Magnus Methods for Cosmological Perturbation Theory
Cole Meldorf
- Part III student from Oct 2022 to Jun 2023
- Thesis: Bayesian inference and the shape of the primordial universe
- Links:
Carola Zanoletti
- Part III student from Oct 2021 to Jun 2022
- Thesis: Palindromic Universes: Alternative Solution by Matrix Representation
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: PhD in cosmology, Nottingham
Oliver Normand
- Part III student from Oct 2021 to Jun 2022
- Thesis: Bayesian reconstructions of the primordial universe from Planck CMB data
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: Management consultancy
Xy Wang
- Part III student from Oct 2021 to Jun 2022
- Thesis: Accelerated nested sampling with proposal prior mixing for Bayesian inference
- Group research papers:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: PhD in Quantum Computing, Germany
Yoann Launay
- Part III student from Oct 2021 to Jun 2022
- Thesis: Primordial Non-Gaussianity from kinetic initial conditions for inflation
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: PhD in Cosmology, DAMTP
Yi Jer Loh
- Part III student from Oct 2020 to Jun 2021
- Thesis: Constructing Non-Linear Cosmological Tension Coordinate with Neural Networks
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2021: Data Scientist, Spotify
Aleksandr Petrosyan
- Part III student from Oct 2019 to Jun 2020
- Thesis: Accelerated nested sampling in the context of cosmological parameter estimation
- Group research papers:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2020: Lead cryptography engineer, Armenia
Deaglan Bartlett
- Part III student from Oct 2018 to Jun 2019
- Thesis: The Conformal Boundary at the End of the Universe
- Group research papers:
- Perturbations and the Future Conformal Boundary
- Improved cosmological fits with quantized primordial power spectra
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: PhD in Astrophysics, Oxford
- Oct 2022: Postdoc in IAP, Paris
Jamie Bamber
- Part III student from Oct 2018 to Jun 2019
- Thesis: Beyond the Runge-Kutta-Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin method
- Group research papers:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: PhD in Astrophysics, Oxford
Jessica Rigley
- Part III student from Oct 2017 to Jun 2018
- Thesis: Cosmologically Investigating the Neutrino Hierachy
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: PhD in astronomy, IoA
Ward Haddadin
- Part III student from Oct 2017 to Jun 2018
- Thesis: The Primordial Power Spectrum of Kinetically Dominated Universes
- Summer student from Jun 2018 to Sep 2018
- Group research papers:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2018: PhD in Particle physics theory, DAMTP
Daniel Manela
- Part III student from Oct 2016 to Jun 2017
- Thesis: Affine-invariant ensemble sampling with applications to LIGO data
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: Msc Computational stats & ML, UCL
- Jan 2021: statistical/ML engineer at UCB Pharmaceuticals
- Oct 2022: PhD in ML, Oxford
Bob Knighton
- Part III student from Oct 2016 to Jun 2017
- Thesis: Investigations into the Kinetically Dominated Universe
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: PhD in theoretical cosmology, ETH Zurich
- Oct 2023: Postdoc at DAMTP (Cambridge)
Past Summer students
Fedir Boreiko
- Summer student from Jun 2025 to Aug 2025
- Thesis: Machine Learning Enhanced Cosmological Tension Detection
Artyom Baryshnikov
- Summer student from Jun 2022 to Aug 2022
- Group research papers:
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: MSc in Cyber Security in Edinburgh
Beichen Xu
- Summer student from Jun 2022 to Sep 2022
- Group research papers:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: Physics in Birmingham
Mary Letey
- Summer student from Jun 2022 to Aug 2022
- Group research papers:
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: Msc in Theoretical Physics, Perimeter Institute
- Oct 2023: PhD in Applied Mathematics, Harvard
Mattia Varrone
- Summer student from Jun 2021 to Sep 2021
Zak Shumaylov
- Summer student from Jun 2021 to Sep 2021
- Group research papers:
- Quantum initial conditions for curved inflating universes
- Primordial power spectra from $k$-inflation with curvature
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2022: PhD in machine learning, DAMTP
Denis Werth
- Summer student from Jun 2019 to Sep 2019
- Group research papers:
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: Masters in Sorbonne, Paris
- Oct 2021: PhD in Astrophysics, Paris (IAP & Sorbonne)
Liam L.H. Lau
- Summer student from Jun 2019 to Sep 2019
- Thesis: Machine learning the future of cosmology experiments
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: PhD in Physics, Rutgers (US)
Maxime Jabarian
- Summer student from Jun 2019 to Sep 2019
- Links:
- Subsequent career:
- Jan 2022: AI/Cybersecurity startup, Paris
Elizabeth Guest
- Summer student from Jun 2018 to Sep 2018
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: MSc in Theoretical Chemistry, Cambridge
- Oct 2022: PhD in exoplanet atmospheres, UCL
Shu-Fan Chen
- Summer student from Jun 2018 to Sep 2018
- Group research papers:
- The Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program: A Reanalysis Of Cosmology Results And Evidence For Evolving Dark Energy With An Updated Type Ia Supernova Calibration
- Nested sampling for physical scientists
- Subsequent career:
- Oct 2019: PhD in Cosmology, Harvard