News Archive
Since 2021
August–December 2025
- ›8 new REACH papers are out — see them under Publications.
- ›Dr Oscar O'Hara, Dr Emma Shen and Dr Simon Pochinda successfully defended their PhD theses, and Ms Gabriella Rajpoot passed her MPhil viva. Congratulations to all!
- ›Dr Vijay Mahatma has been awarded a major VLA observing project, building on Cambridge's radio astronomy legacy to study 73 of the brightest radio galaxies in unprecedented detail.
- ›The 4th REACH annual meeting took place in Cambridge (November 2025).
- ›Eloy de Lera Acedo (head of group) was promoted to Professor of Radio Astronomy (October 2025).
- ›Further funding awarded by UKSA to the CosmoCube space mission (£160k for mission and payload development).
- ›A new bilateral meeting took place at JPL, CA in September 2025 between the CHIC and CosmoCube teams, following the 8th Global Workshop at Caltech.
- ›Adele Chu, Jacob Tutt and Rohan Patel join the PhD students team. Welcome all!
January–July 2025
- ›10 new REACH papers are out — see them under Publications.
- ›3 new PDRAs have joined the group: Dr Peter Sims, Dr Anchal Saxena and Dr Oskar Zetterström. Welcome all!
- ›Kilian Scheutwinkel successfully defended his PhD thesis, “Simulation-based Bayesian machine learning methods for Cosmology and beyond”.
- ›We presented the CosmoCube mission at the NAM 2025 conference — RAS Press Release here.
- ›In the first quarter of 2025 we conducted a mission design study for CosmoCube with space experts at SSTL Ltd.
- ›Thomas Gessey-Jones et al. published on the determination of the mass distribution of the first stars from the 21-cm signal in Nature Astronomy. Congratulations Thomas et al.!
October–December 2024
- ›3 new REACH papers are out — see them under Publications.
- ›A group of REACH scientists visited the site in the Karoo in October to continue refining and fine-tuning the instrument in the quest for the first stars.
- ›A contingent of the group visited JPL in Pasadena to discuss and collaborate on the continued development of the CosmoCube space mission.
- ›In Lent term we will again deliver the MPhil course on Data-driven radio astronomy in the SKA era. Lecturers: Vijay Mahatma, Charlie Walker, Haoyang Ye, Harry Bevins, Dominic Anstey, Quentin Gueuning, Jeremy Coles and Eloy de Lera Acedo.
- ›3 new members join in January: Adele Chu (MPhil), Ashish Mhaske (PhD) and Boyan Zhao (visiting student). Welcome all!
July–September 2024
- ›4 new REACH papers are out — see them under Publications.
- ›Members of the group attended the 3rd REACH Annual Meeting in Mahabaleshwar, India.
- ›Dr Shikhar Mittal joins the group from TIFR, Mumbai to work on 21-cm cosmology (theory and data analysis). Welcome Shikhar!
- ›3 new graduate students join the team: Gabriella Rajpoot, Adarsh Kumar Dash and Daniel Robins. Welcome all!
April–June 2024
- ›5 new REACH papers are out — see them here.
- ›Members of our group delivered talks at world-class conferences this term, including URSI AT-RASC 2024, EuCAP 2024, Cosmology in the Alps, EuCAIFCon 2024 and Cosmic Magnetism in the Pre-SKA era.
- ›Thomas Gessey-Jones defended his PhD viva successfully. Congratulations Thomas!
January–March 2024
- ›We welcome Aleksandra Dragovic, who joined in January as a PhD student working on data analysis for 21-cm cosmology.
- ›The group delivered, for the first time, a course on Data-Driven Radio Astronomy in the SKA era as part of the MPhil in Data Intensive Science.
- ›CosmoCube (a Cambridge-led space mission to do cosmology at the Dark Ages from the far side of the Moon) was awarded £1.5M for development by the UKSA.
- ›Charlie Walker elected Trevelyan Research Associate at Selwyn College. Congratulations Charlie!
- ›REACH can see the sky — first observations have started!
November–December 2023
- ›Thommas Gessey-Jones wins the Cavendish Prize in Theoretical Physics at the 2024 Cavendish Annual Thesis Prizes. Congratulations Thommas!
- ›We welcome Mr Saswata Dasgupta, our latest research student, affiliated with the Institute of Astronomy and working on the calibration of REACH.
- ›A REACH instrument paper is among the most read at the Journal of Astronomical Instrumentation. Congratulations John Cumner et al.!
October 2023
- ›We welcome Dr Haoyang Ye and Dr Charles Walker, who joined to work on SKA UKSRC.
- ›We started operations (October 1st) under the “REACH_21” ERC (UKRI guarantee) Consolidator grant. 21-cm line, here we go!
- ›Sam Leeney has officially started as a PhD student under the REACH_21 project after his MPhil degree.
September 2023
- ›Harry Bevins, who recently defended his PhD thesis in our group, has started as a Kavli Junior Fellow at the Kavli Institute for Cosmology in Cambridge.
- ›We welcome Dr Maya Horton, Dr Vijay Mahatma, Dr Daniel Molnar and Mr Rohan Patel, who joined to work on SKA and REACH.
- ›The REACH 2nd annual meeting was held 25–27 September in Valletta, Malta.
May–August 2023
- ›Eloy de Lera Acedo elected Fellow at Selwyn College.
- ›REACH first light took place on 25 August 2023.
- ›Eloy de Lera Acedo gave (with Anastasia Fialkov) the KICC New Frontiers Lecture in Astrophysics in May 2023.
March–April 2023
- ›At the end of April, CosmoCube participated in a UK Space Mission Incubator to prepare for its next development phase.
- ›The UK SKA Science Regional Centre — started this year with key participation from Cavendish Radio Cosmology researchers — has been ramping up work on interoperable digital research infrastructure to enable astronomers to access SKAO data and explore the Universe.
January–February 2023
- ›Eloy de Lera Acedo awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant.
- ›John Cumner has become a PDRA in the group — congratulations! We also welcome Yuchen Liu as our latest PhD student.
- ›Cavendish Radio Cosmology researchers organised and taught courses in the SARAO Workshop dedicated to Global 21-cm Astronomy Experiments and Technology.
November–December 2022
- ›New limits from HERA — and the paper here.
- ›First astrophysical constraints from 21-cm observations of the Cosmic Dawn by Harry Bevins et al.!
- ›Exciting times with a new UKSA grant awarded to continue the development of CosmoCube.
October 2022
- ›Alec Josaitis and Dominic Anstey successfully defended their PhD vivas! Congratulations — Dominic has also started as a PDRA with us.
- ›4 new PhD students join the radio cosmology group. Welcome Christian, Joe, Kaan and Jiten!
July–September 2022
- ›The REACH mission paper was published in Nature Astronomy, and featured on the front page of the journal during August.
- ›REACH in the media.
May–June 2022
- ›Kilian Scheutwinkel awarded a G-Research June grant.
- ›HERA Project — impacting local development through employment creation and encouraging participation of researchers in South Africa.
- ›High-profile technology research published in Nature Communications: existing infrastructure will be unable to support demand for high-speed internet.
April 2022
- ›£5M grant awarded to Cavendish Astrophysics to build the “brains” of the world's largest radio telescope (Eloy de Lera Acedo, PI).
- ›REACH All-hands meeting hosted by the Kavli Institute for Cosmology in Cambridge.
- ›REACH featured in the SKA CONTACT magazine.
February–March 2022
- ›Funding awarded for the development of CosmoCube, a CubeSat-based radiometer for studies of the Dark Ages from the Moon's orbit.
- ›Dominic Anstey and Eloy de Lera Acedo visit the Karoo to continue the installation of REACH.
January 2022
- ›Samuel Leeney joins the group for an MPhil project on Bayesian data analysis of the 21-cm line. Welcome Samuel!
- ›Eloy de Lera Acedo began his STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship on January 1st.
November 2021
- ›Thomas Gessey-Jones was awarded the Best Talk Award at the Cavendish Graduate Conference 2021 for “Probing the first stars with 21-cm cosmology”. Congratulations Thomas!