Samantha Oates

Dr Samantha Oates is a Lecturer in Astrophysics within the Department of Physics at Lancaster University's Faculty of Science and Technology. Her office is located in C035, C-Floor, Physics Building.

Her research focuses on Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) in the gravitational wave era, investigating environments of GRB explosions, central engine mechanisms, jet structures, cosmological evolution of GRBs, and electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave events. She actively participates in international collaborations including Swift, LSST, STARGATE, and ENGRAVE. Her work addresses critical questions about optical/UV contaminants in gravitational wave counterpart searches and the cosmological utility of GRB correlations.

Dr Oates supervises PhD students including Samuel Shilling in Observational Astrophysics. She contributes to the Astrophysics research group at Lancaster University, delivering specialized lectures and supervising projects on multi-messenger astrophysics. Recent publications demonstrate her expertise in gravitational wave follow-up campaigns, supernova classification, and nuclear transient phenomena.

Her research group engages in multiwavelength observations from gamma-ray to radio wavelengths, utilizing facilities for real-time transient detection and characterization. Current projects involve analyzing data from gravitational wave events and developing methods to distinguish true counterparts from serendipitous transients.