CV

Full CV can be found at this link

Education

• MPhys in Particle Physics and Cosmology, Lancaster University, 2019
• MSc in Astrophysics, Liverpool John Moores University, 2020
• PhD in Physics, University of Edinburgh, 2025 (exp.)

Research experience

• July 2018 - September 2018: Summer internship, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
  • `Investigating galaxy blending in weak lensing shear measurements’
  • Quantified shear measurement bias cased by blended galaxies
  • Supervisor: Dr Giuseppe Congedo
• October 2018 - May 2019: Mphys project, Lancaster University
  • `Dynamics of a novel oscillating scalar field dark energy’
  • Investigated the observability of featuers of a novel dark energy model
  • Supervisor: Dr John MacDonald
• May 2020 - September 2020: MSc project, Liverpool John Moorees University
  • `Investigating Gravitational Redshifting in SPIDERS Galaxy Clusters’
  • Observed gravittional redshifting effect of spectroscopically obserevd galaxies in X-ray selected galaxy clusters
  • Compared observation to predictions from General Relativity and f(R), an alternative theory of gravity
  • Supervisor: Prof Chris Collins
• Setember 2020 - March 2025: PhD, University of Edinburgh
  • Topics in gravitational wave weak lensing
  • Forecasts the weak lensing of gravitational waves as a cosmological probe in the next generation gravitational wave detectors
  • Investigating the bias on recovered cosmological parameters caused by the weak lensing of gravitational waves
  • Supervisors: Prof Andy Taylor, Dr Giuseppe Congedo
• September 2023 - September 2024: Study abroad project, Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo
  • Using dark matter simulations to investigate the cosmological dependence of the infall region in the outskirts of dark matter halos
  • Performing the first application of a novel cosmological probe utilising the infall region with UNIONS weak lensing profiles of clusters
  • Supervisor: Prof James Taylor

Publications

• Gravitational redshifting of galaxies in the SPIDERS cluster catalogue. Mpetha C. T., Collins C. A., Clerc N., Finoguenov A., Peacock J. A., Comparat J., et al. (2021). MNRAS, 503, 1, 669-678.
• Future prospects of testing extensions to ΛCDM through the weak lensing of gravitational waves. Mpetha C. T., Congedo G., Taylor A. N. (2023). PRD, 107, 103518.
• Impact of weak lensing on bright standard siren analyses. Mpetha C. T., Congedo G., Taylor A. N. (2024). PRD, 110, 023502.
• Constraining cosmological parameters using the splashback radius of galaxy clusters. Haggar R., Amoura Y., Mpetha C. T., Taylor J. E., Walker K., Power C. (2024). ApJ, 972, 1, 28.
• The infall region as a complementary probe to cluster abundance. Mpetha C. T., Amoura Y., Taylor J. E., Haggar R. (2024). MNRAS, 532, 2, 2521-2533.
• Cosmology from UNIONS weak lensing profiles of galaxy clusters. Mpetha C. T., Amoura Y., Taylor J. E., Haggar R., et al. (2025). Submitted to MNRAS.

Awards and Funding

• 2018: Cormack/Piazzi Vacation Research Scholarship
  • £266 per week for six weeks
• 2019: Outstanding Final Year Performance
  • Awarded by Lancaster University for having one of the top overall grades in the final year
• 2019: Research Academy Prize
  • Awarded by Lancaster University for having one of the top masters project grades in the year
• 2023: Leverhulme Study Abroad Scholarship
  • £23,040 over one year

Presentations

Invited:

• January 2023, LISA collaboration community meeting, Online
• February 2024 & June 2024, UNIONS Collaboration weak lensing meeting, Online
• January 2025, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany

Other:

• May 2022, UK Cosmology Meeting, Newcastle, UK
• September 2022, Probing the Universe with Multimessenger Astrophysics, Sestri-Levante, Italy
• January 2023, Durham-Edinburgh eXtragalactic Workshop XIX, Edinburgh, UK
• January 2024, American Astronomical Society Annual meeting, New Orleans, USA
• June 2024, Cosmology from Home, Online
• August 2024, University of Maryland Visiting Speaker, Maryland, USA
• September 2024, Cosmological and Astrophysical Synergies: Tactics for the Latest Era, Tagliolo Monferrato, Italy

Posters:

CASCA, GWPAW, SUPA Annual Gathering, Tonale Winter School (poster prize)

Collaborations

• Euclid Collaboration
• UNIONS Collaboration

Teaching and Mentorship

• July - September 2024: Summer student mentor
  • Mentored a high-school student on a project visualising simulated galaxy clusters
• October 2020 - Present: Teaching Assistant
  • Courses: Cosmology (MSc), Discovering Astronomy, Introductory Astrophysics, Modern Physics, Physics 1A+1B (BSc)
  • Nominated for Student Tutor of the Year in the 2022 Student-Led Teaching Awards
• December 2019 - September 2023: Maths and Physics Tutor
  • Tutored students from ages 11-18, and adults, on a variety of topics in maths and physics.

Service and Leadership

• Large Scale Structure Jounral Club
  • Organised and chaired a weekly cosmology journal club at the University of Edinburgh for >1 year