Dr Thomas Haworth

Profile

I am an astrophysicist with interest in a range of topics in star and planet formation, though my main focus at present is understanding how planet formation happens in different types of environment. I primarily use a mixture of computer simulations and real observations in my research. I am also recently starting to work on astrobiology, with a focus on photosynthesis on exoplanets.

I joined QMUL in 2019 as a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow and proleptic lecturer.

In 2014 I completed my PhD at the University of Exeter and moved to the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge as a postdoctoral researcher. Starting in 2016, I then spent 3 years as an Imperial College Junior Research Fellow before being awarded a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship and moving to QMUL in 2019. Since my arrival at QMUL I have been awarded UKRI guarantee funding for an ERC consolidator grant.

My team currently includes:

Gavin Coleman (PDRA)

Saumya Gupta (PDRA)

Luke Keyte (PDRA)

Raphaël Meshakaa (PDRA)

Lin Qiao (PDRA) Sébastien Paine (PhD student)

Tyger Peake (PhD student)

Teaching

SPA7036P, Radiative Transfer & Astrochemistry: Module Organiser

SPA7038P, Practical Astrophysics: Module Assistant

BSc and MSc research projects

Research

Research Interests:

I work on a wide range of problems involving radiative transfer and hydrodynamics. In particular my main focus is on the impact of radiation environment on planet-forming disks and the resulting planet populations. That work is funded by the Royal Society and UKRI/ERC. I am also involved in a UV space telescope concept called Eos led from the US. I also work with colleagues in SBBS/DERI on new astrobiology work on photosynthesis on exoplanets.

Examples of research funding:

1. UKRI Guarantee funding for an ERC consolidator grant. (£1.67M)

2. Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship renewal (£0.674M)

3. STFC Consolidated grant (co-I, 15% FTE and 2 year PDRA)

4. Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship (£0.651M)

5. Imperial College London Junior Research Fellowship (£0.136M)

Publications

1. The external photoevaporation of planet-forming discs, Winter & Haworth, 2022, EPJP, 137, 1132 (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022EPJP..137.1132W/abstract)

2. The FRIED grid of mass loss rates for externally irradiated protoplanetary discs, Haworth et al, 2018, MNRAS, 481, 452 (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022EPJP..137.1132W/abstract)

3. Proplyds in the flame nebula, NGC2024, Haworth et al., 2021, MNRAS, 501, 3502 (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021MNRAS.501.3502H/abstract)

4. Dispersal of protoplanetary discs: how stellar properties and local environment determine the pathway of evolution, Coleman & Haworth, 2022, MNRAS, 514, 2315 (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022MNRAS.514.2315C/abstract)

5. Planet formation by pebble accretion in externally photoevaporating discs, Qiao, Coleman & Haworth, 2023, MNRAS, 522, 1939 (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023MNRAS.522.1939Q/abstract)

Supervision

PhD students:

Lin Qiao (completed PhD in 2025)

Sébastien Paine

Tyger Peake

Public Engagement

I am strongly engaged in public outreach, for example

• QMUL Festival of communities in 2022
• Launching bottle rockets with Carealot Day Nursery in Chelmsford
• Speaking for QMFutures. 
• I am part of the creativity and curiosity art-science collaboration (https://www.creativityandcuriosity.com/)
• I was special guest on the exoplanet podcast (http://www.exocast.org/exocast-35b/)
• I spoke at the Berlin Großplanetarium for Berlin Science week in 2019
• School visits (Maple Cross Primary and Hilltop Primary)
• I have given talks for Crayford Manor Astronomical Society and the London Amateur Astrophysics Group (LAAG).