Thomas G. Williams

About Me

I'm Tom, and I look upwards in a professional capacity. I am currently an ALMA support scientist at the ARC Node in sunny Manchester, a position that I took up at the start of September, 2025. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, working with Martin Bureau and the WISDOM team and before that at MPIA, working with Eva Schinnerer and the PHANGS collaboration. Many moons ago now, I was a PhD student at Cardiff University, under the supervision of Walter Gear and Matt Smith.

My research focuses on nearby galaxies, and in particular the star-formation lifecycle through multi-wavelength observations. I enjoy getting my hands dirty with data analysis, and have messed around with SCUBA-2, ALMA, MUSE, JWST, VLA, and a whole bunch of other wavelengths. Pictures are fun! I've published papers on a variety of topics from using Machine Learning to get at metallicity distributions, to the dangers of trying to measure pattern speeds, to how to efficiently decompose complex spectral datacubes. I was also the lead for the PHANGS-JWST Cycle 1 Treasury, which got attention from several well-known news outlets, including the BBC. For a more complete list of papers that I've worked on, please see my publications!

Between the research, I've also done a bunch of lab demonstrating for undergraduates, as well as tutorials for first-year Physics students at Wadham College. I was one of the first cohort of "Research Associates in Astrophysics" at Green Templeton College. I've also been involved in outreach during the various positions I've held; more details are in my CV. Not included there is my brief tenure as a "heliocentric expert" at the UK's first flat earth convention -- if you'd like to see any of that, YouTube has you covered...

Beyond that, I'm also an avid musician. I started playing keyboard when I was about 10 years old, before moving to the electronic organ. I'm now Grade 8, and have performed at venues such as the Birmingham Symphony Hall. During my undergraduate studies, I also played percussion for both Nottingham University Brass Band and Foresters Brass. I was also the resident pianist for Musicality, the University's musical theatre society, as well as an occasional Musical Director. Find some covers me and a friend from school have recorded on our SoundCloud!