Gert Botha
After obtaining my first degrees in South Africa, I worked on the fusion project at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation for a few years. I left South Africa to do my doctorate in London under the guidance of Professor M.G. Haines. Since then I have been working in astrophysical plasmas, with the main emphasis in solar plasmas. My lectureship at Northumbria University started in 2012.
The interplay between magnetic fields and plasma (hot ionised gas) plays an important role in the universe and in our solar system. This is true of our sun, the solar wind as well as the interaction between solar wind and the planetary magnetospheres of our solar system. My research aims to understand magnetoconvection beneath the visible photosphere in our sun, as well as the interaction between plasma and magnetic structures in the different layers of the solar atmosphere. My teaching responsibility lies principally in applied mathematics, in particular the physical sciences. Throughout my professional career I have used analytical and numerical approaches to study astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. This allows me to teach mathematics, physics and numerical techniques to all levels of students.