GEPI

Owain Snaith started a postdoctoral position here in the Stellar and Galactic Physics team at the end of March. He is not really a newcomer in GEPI, but he introduces himself in this article.

I completed my PhD at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, UK, studying the evolution of galaxies. Since then, I have continued to explore galaxy properties using simulations and models. I was previously a postdoctoral researcher at GEPI in 2012-2013 exploring the chemical evolution of the Milky Way. I subsequently moved to the University of Alabama to study the chemical evolution of simulated galaxies beyond the Milky Way, and then moved to South Korea to look at even larger scales. I have dropped back down the distance ladder, returning home to the Milky Way, even as I return to GEPI.

Most recently, I have been working on a large-scale hydrodynamical simulation of the the Universe, reaching giga-parsec scales, while in South Korea. This will be the largest volume of the Universe studied using full dark matter + baryons, at a resolution similar to Horizon-AGN, Illustris or Eagle.

At GEPI, I will be exploring the dynamics and chemical evolution of the Milky Way, using simulations, in order to help interpret data from Gaia, APOGEE and other such surveys, with a particular focus on Galactic chemical evolution. A recurring theme of my research is the chemical properties of galaxies, and how the approach to modelling physical processes affects the outcome.