Craig Duguid

Background

I graduated from The Robert Gordon University in Scotland with a BSc in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and an MSc in Information Systems. My Masters degree project gave me the confidence and experience in research to want to pursue a PhD. With that in mind I then went on to complete a BA in Mathematics with the Open University.

Research Interests

Currently my PhD research is exploring the interactions between tidal flows and turbulent convection within the convective regions of Sun-like stars. In particular this interaction is thought to act as an eddy viscosity in damping the large scale tidal flow. The efficiency of this mechanism should then be reduced as the tidal frequency is increased and in particular when the tidal frequency exceeds the relevant local convective frequency in the system. Although there is some controversy about the degree of reduction in the dissipation. The importance of this mechanism is that the amount of dissipation has consequences for the inspiral timescales of the Hot Jupiter planet and hence the survival rates of these worlds.

More broadly my interests are in the areas of astrophysical fluid dynamics relating to (but not exclusively) exoplanets, stellar structure, protoplanetary discs and tidal interactions.

Why I chose the CDT in Fluid Dynamics

Coming from a distance learning environment I feel that the MSc component of the CDT would facilitate my transition back into attending a university. Further to this one of my biggest weaknesses is networking, and science cannot really be done alone these days, so the cohort approach is hugely important to me.

As for the university itself, I feel that Leeds being one of only 3 CDTs in the country for fluid dynamics puts it at the forefront of fluid dynamics research. On top of this the university has many potential PhD supervisors that share my research interests.

For these reasons the CDT at Leeds was my 1st choice for where to do a PhD.