Dr Loretta Dunne
Position
Lecturer in Physics
Qualifications
MPhys Astrophysics (Cardiff University, UK) PhD (Cardiff University, UK)
Room
814, Physics and Astronomy
Contact Details
Phone: +64 3 364-2532
Internal Phone: 7579
Email: loretta.dunne@canterbury.ac.nz
Postal address:
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Canterbury,
Private Bag 4800,
Christchurch,
New Zealand
Background
I did my undergraduate degree at Cardiff University, chosen because it was the only place offering both an undergraduate course in Astronomy and having a hang gliding club. I graduated my degree in 1997 (and my hang gliding course in 1994!). I was then faced with a choice of working for the Met Office in Bracknell (not the most exciting place to live) or carrying on in Cardiff with a PhD where I would get to go to Hawaii lots to use an exciting new instrument called SCUBA, the first real submillimetre camera. I chose the travel option and spent a very happy 3 years collecting the first statistically useful sample of 200 nearby galaxies in the new 'submillimetre' part of the spectrum (looking at 'dust'). I was then successful in getting a PPARC postdoctoral fellowship and did a further 3 years in Cardiff working on galaxy evolution and also the origin of dust. In the meantime I went travelling to New Zealand for the first time in 2002 and immediately knew this was the place I had to live. I moved to Nottingham with a permanent lectureship in 2004 and moved onto work on Herschel projects. Finally, a chance to move to New Zealand materialised in 2010 and despite the earthquakes, we decided it was time to move down under.
Courses
Research Interests
- UC Research Profile
- Galaxy formation and evolution using multi-wavelength surveys
- Large submillimetre surveys with Herschel
- New surveys with SKA precursor telescopes in Australia, South Africa and the Netherlands
- Using strong lensing as a tool for exploring star formation in distant galaxies
- The origins and life cycle of interstellar dust
Department Administration
Recent Publications
Refereed papers
- refer UC Research Profile (currently being updated)