Big telescopes, glitter, and moving to Manchester for your PhD

“It’s so nice to get to know a city this well, and to be able to walk everywhere. I’ve really enjoyed that.”

We talk to Georgie, a postgraduate researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy studying the formation of stars at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, about big telescopes, glitter, and her advice for anyone moving to Manchester from London...

Was Manchester a place you knew well before you started your PhD?

No, I grew up in London and did my undergraduate there, at Imperial. Then I took part in the Erasmus programme, with six months in Valencia, but then Covid happened! I didn’t know much about Manchester at all, to be honest I only came up here to visit after I’d accepted my PhD place. But I’ve come to really enjoy the city, and appreciate everything it has to offer. When I came up here to look for a place to move into, I purposely walked everywhere. That way I got a better idea of where the places I was looking at were in relation to the city centre and the University. It is important to get to know the shape and the scale of a city. So I do a lot of walking, but in Manchester there are always the trams if you need them, and sometimes, you do need them!

What was it like settling in Manchester after London?

Well, it’s always strange coming from London, because most cities are smaller than London! Valencia for example, was so much smaller than London that I was so surprised by being able to walk everywhere, that you could get to know a city centre and learn the names of all the streets! And here in Manchester it’s similar, I learned my way around, spotted all sorts of lovely coffee shops, and places in the Northern Quarter that have all sorts of independent record shops and vintage clothing, that cool Soho style. It’s so nice to get to know a city this well, and to be able to walk everywhere. I’ve really enjoyed that.

Lots of people here would say that the city has quite a distinct vibe to it as well?

Manchester does definitely have a specific identity, that people are rightly proud of. It has all sorts of interesting history that I’ve learnt a lot about, even just by walking around, but also by visiting the museums and historic places, like the John Rylands Library. It’s been a great experience, learning more about the city and its identity – it’s just such a unique place.

We haven’t mentioned the John Rylands Library in these interviews before!

Well it’s part of the University! It’s a historic library in the city centre, on Deansgate, and it’s a beautiful building, Victorian, gothic-style ceilings and turrets and staircases. It was set up by the widow of Mr John Rylands, to provide access to books and art to the working-class area that it was part of. It’s a fascinating place. They have all sorts of historical artefacts. I’d definitely recommend taking a look around it. And as a researcher you can book to go there and access anything from their collections. You’re part of the University, so that’s one of the privileges you have!

When people visit, is the John Rylands your go-to place then?

Well, most people who are visiting me come up from London into Manchester Piccadilly, and from there it’s a hop, skip, and a jump into the heart of the Northern Quarter. There are loads of those little coffee shops I mentioned, but the place that I take people the most is an art shop, Fred Aldous - they sell everything you can think of related to crafts! They have this gigantic basement, a cavern of treasures, every paint colour you can think of, pens, wool, glitter! My sister’s an artist, so I took her there and she absolutely loved it.

Speaking of sparkly things – sorry, that’s a terrible link – could you tell us a bit more about Jodrell Bank?!

The JBO (Jodrell Bank Observatory) is a site outside of Manchester where, if you don’t know it, there are several big radio telescopes! The most famous is the Lovell telescope, which is absolutely ginormous! There’s a festival held there every year called Blue Dot, I helped out with that last year actually, it was a great experience. And there are loads of exhibitions and loads of science that goes on there! I don’t do my science at the University there, I’m mostly in one of the University buildings, but JBO definitely has a very big centre for all sorts of astronomical research. The telescope that I use for my observations is actually in Chile, so that’s a bit further away! But we go to the JBO every year for an internal symposium, and actually I work with lots of researchers who split their time between there and here at the University.

So where do you work usually?

I’m based in the Alan Turing building, which is mostly used for Maths, but we astrophysicists have commandeered the top floor! When there’s a big project that I really want to focus on though, I actually go to the bottom floor of the new engineering building. There’s a really big study space there, with different seating booths, and it’s a great place to just plug your laptop in, get some headphones on, and crack out a few hours of writing.?