Mark Kennedy

Dr. Mark Kennedy is a Research Fellow in the School of Physics at University College Cork (UCC), specializing in astrophysics with a focus on magnetic white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. His research integrates observational astronomy, computational modeling, and machine learning to study accretion processes in compact binaries and gravitational-wave astronomy. Kennedy holds a PhD from UCC and the University of Notre Dame (2017), supported by a Naughton Fellowship. He completed a Newton International Fellowship (2017–2019) at the University of Manchester and currently leads the 'Invisible Monsters' project funded by a Government of Ireland Fellowship (2021–present).

His academic career includes ERC-funded work on neutron star mass measurements and contributions to the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project. Kennedy serves as Communications Officer and Postdoctoral Researcher Representative for the Astronomical Society of Ireland. He teaches PY3109 (Introduction to Observational Astrophysics) and PY2106 (Introduction to Astrophysics and Special Relativity) at UCC.

Key research areas include transitional millisecond pulsars, black widow/red back systems, and machine learning applications for detecting hidden black holes using all-sky surveys. Awards include the Naughton, Newton, and Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowships. His work has been published in high-impact journals and presented at international conferences, with a focus on multi-messenger astronomy and compact object dynamics.