A. J. Winter — Astrophysicist

What I Work On

Research Themes

My research spans phenomena on widely different scales — from disc physics around young stars to the long-term dynamics of globular clusters.

Image: ESO/M. L. Aru et al.

External Photoevaporation

How radiation from nearby massive stars strips material from protoplanetary discs, setting limits on planet formation in clustered environments.

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Star–Disc Encounters

Gravitational flybys between passing stars can truncate discs and sculpt the architecture of forming planetary systems.

Image: ESO/Boccaletti et al.

Late-Stage Infall

Mechanisms by which discs are replenished by infalling material from the surrounding envelope during late protostellar evolution.

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Local Star-Forming Regions

Comparing observed disc populations in nearby clusters — Orion, Lupus, Taurus — with theoretical models of environmental processing.

Image: ESO

Dense & Cluster Environments

How brown dwarfs, planets, and multiple stellar populations form and survive in dense clusters and globular clusters — from million-year disc timescales to gigayear dynamical evolution.

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Dynamics of Protoplanetary Discs

Warped disc structures and molecular line kinematics as probes of embedded planets, misaligned companions, and large-scale disc physics observable with ALMA.

Background

About Me

I am a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Astrophysics at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), a position I have held since May 2025.

I completed a Master's degree in Mathematics & Physics at the University of Warwick (2011–2015), followed by a PhD at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge (2019), supervised by Professor Cathie Clarke.

I have since held postdoctoral positions at the University of Leicester, Heidelberg University as a Humboldt Fellow, and the Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur in Nice as a Marie Curie Fellow. I was also a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg.

My research asks the question: how does the environment in which a star is born influence the planets that eventually form around it? Answering it requires connecting the physics of protoplanetary discs to the large-scale dynamics of star-forming regions and clusters.

Positions Held

Royal Society URF & Lecturer QMUL — 2025–present
Marie Curie Fellow OCA, Nice — postdoc
Humboldt Fellow Heidelberg University — postdoc
Postdoctoral Researcher University of Leicester
PhD — Astronomy University of Cambridge, 2019
MPhys — Math & Physics University of Warwick, 2015

Andrew J. Winter