Josu Aurrekoetxea

Josu Aurrekoetxea is a Beecroft Fellow and extraordinary Junior Research Fellow (eJRF) at The Queen's College, University of Oxford, working within the Astrophysics sub-department of the Department of Physics. He joined Oxford in October 2021 after completing his academic journey that began in the Basque Country.

Originally from Sestao, a historically industrial city in Greater Bilbao, he attended Saturnino de la Peña high school before earning his undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of the Basque Country. In 2016, he moved to London to pursue an MSc in Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces at Imperial College London, followed by a PhD in Theoretical Physics at King's College London.

Dr. Aurrekoetxea's research centers on gravitational waves, black holes, and cosmology, with particular expertise in numerical relativity. His work involves using high-performance computing methods to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity, simulating extreme gravitational phenomena such as black hole collisions. He explores how gravitational waves from catastrophic cosmic events can address fundamental questions about the universe's origins and composition. His research spans strong-field gravity regimes, vacuum decay phenomena, dark matter interactions with black holes, and primordial black hole formation.

His publications reflect a strong focus on computational approaches to theoretical physics problems, with numerous papers on numerical relativity techniques, gravitational wave analysis, and cosmological simulations. His work often involves collaboration with leading researchers in the field and contributes to major projects like GRChombo, an open-source numerical relativity code.

At The Queen's College, Dr. Aurrekoetxea serves as a Physics Tutor, teaching relativity to third-year undergraduate students. His academic position combines research excellence with teaching responsibilities, positioning him at the forefront of gravitational physics research while contributing to the education of future physicists.

His laboratory work centers around the GRChombo project, an adaptable numerical relativity code for fundamental physics that enables high-performance simulations of Einstein's equations. This computational framework supports his research into strong-field gravity phenomena and has become a valuable resource for the broader gravitational physics community.