I spend my time studying galaxies that existed in the first billion years of the Universe. I try to understand what processes shape their formation and growth, from the sub-galactic scales through to the cosmic web, and whether nature or nurture is key to their evolution. I am establishing how these galaxies grew through stochastic star formation processes and how they formed the first massive black holes, often understanding this in relation to their large-scale environments.

 

I have studied the progenitors of the most massive galaxy clusters, understanding how these extreme nodes of the cosmic web shape galaxy evolution and cosmic reionisation. I have identified the first known case of a mini-quenched galaxy rejuvenating, revealing the lifecycle of the first galaxies. I established how galaxy mergers drive bursty star formation and facilitate the observation of Lyman-alpha emission and the escape of ionising photons. My recent work on Little Red Dots has revealed that their central engines produce faint, intrinsically red UV emission. 

 

Since starting my PhD in 2021, I have been awared observing time on the James Webb space telescope and ESO’s Very Large Telescope. I published eight first-author papers, including one in Nature Astronomy with multiple press releases (including ESO and New Scientist).

 

Since September 2026, I have been a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge in the extragalactic research group of Roberto Maiolino. I was previously a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva in the Galaxy Build-up at Cosmic Dawn group. ​I was a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge supervised by Debora Sijacki and Nicolas Laporte; I successfully defended my thesis in October 2024. I obtained a First-class Master's degree in Physics with Astrophysics from the University of Bath in 2021.