Brooke Simmons

Professor Brooke Simmons is a Professor in Astrophysics at Lancaster University, based in the Department of Physics. She leads research on galaxy evolution, supermassive black hole growth, and citizen science initiatives like Galaxy Zoo, and supervises PhD students in observational astrophysics.

Research Interests: Her work centers on understanding how galaxies and their central supermassive black holes co-evolve over cosmic time. She investigates questions such as the role of galaxy mergers versus secular processes in black hole growth, the structural evolution of galaxies, and how disk galaxies at high redshift evolve into systems like the Milky Way. Her research leverages multi-wavelength data from telescopes like Hubble and JWST, and she integrates machine learning with citizen science to classify galaxy morphologies at scale.

Current Projects: She leads several funded projects including the FLF renewal on data-driven discoveries, JWST-based Galaxy Zoo studies, and citizen science tools for disaster relief. She is also involved in data releases from surveys like JWST, Euclid, and LSST.

PhD Supervision: She actively mentors PhD students including Jason Makechemu and Matthew Thorne, focusing on observational astrophysics and galaxy evolution.

Contact: Office C053, C-Floor, Physics Building, Lancaster University | Email: b.simmons@lancaster.ac.uk | Phone: +44 (0)1524 593074