Mathew Smith

Dr. Mathew Smith is a Lecturer in Astrophysics at Lancaster University's Department of Physics. His research focuses on understanding the Universe through observations of Type Ia Supernovae, which serve as standard candles for measuring cosmic distances. He is a core member of major international experiments including the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).

Dr. Smith's research spans cosmology and astrophysics, with particular emphasis on Type Ia Supernovae as tools for measuring the expansion history of the Universe. He investigates the physical processes behind these explosions and their use in determining cosmic evolution. His work extends to studying superluminous supernovae, gravitational wave transients, and applying astronomical techniques to medical fields such as skin cancer detection and cardiovascular medicine. His approach combines observational data analysis with computational methods including machine learning for data classification.

His recent publication record shows a concentrated effort on Type Ia supernovae research through the ZTF SN Ia Data Release 2 (DR2), with numerous papers exploring environmental dependencies, light curve properties, spectral features, and cosmological applications. These works demonstrate sophisticated analysis of large datasets and address systematic effects that impact cosmological measurements.

Dr. Smith actively supervises PhD students Melzie Ghendrih and Samuel Shilling in Observational Astrophysics. His research projects include measuring the 3D distribution of matter in the nearby Universe and studying the most extreme astrophysical explosions using data from upcoming surveys like LSST, which will begin operations in 2026 and discover millions of transients annually. He collaborates extensively with international researchers across France, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, and the USA.