Sam Morrell

Dr Sam Morrell is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, bridging Astrophysics with Environmental Science through his work on artificial light at night (ALAN). Affiliated with the Astrophysics Group and the Environment and Sustainability Institute, he applies computational physics to model light pollution's ecological impacts while maintaining his core astrophysical research.

His academic journey includes an MPhys in Physics with Astrophysics (2015) and a PhD in Astrophysics (2020) from Exeter, supervised by Prof. Tim Naylor. Current research focuses on unifying novel light measurement techniques with Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer (MCRT) models to study ALAN's effects on humans and animals, funded by a NERC grant.

• Research Themes: M-dwarf star evolution, exoplanet-host star characteristics, light pollution ecology
• Methodologies: Gaia data analysis, MCRT simulations, interstellar extinction studies
• Outreach & Teaching: Developed the Chirp app, supervised practical astronomy labs, and taught scientific programming in C

Scientific affiliations include Member of the Institute of Physics (MInstP) and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS). His work has produced key publications analyzing M-dwarf radius discrepancies and YSO outburst dynamics, with a recent focus on modeling light pollution's ecological matrix.