Name: Brendan Clarke

Title: PhD Student

Email: bclarke@cp.dias.ie or clarkeb3@tcd.ie

Address: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Astronomy & Astrophysics Section, 31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin, D02 XF86, Ireland.

Social Media: @Brendan_PClarke

Research Interests: Brendan’s research interests surround understanding the nature of the Sun’s most energetic events via multi-wavelength observations. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections result in enormous releases of energy. These events can produce spectacular phenomena such as the aurorae, as well as inducing costly damage to infrastructure here on Earth. To fully grasp and predict the occurrence of such events, it is crucial that we study all of the emission that we observe, from the low frequency radio through to the high energy x-rays. To date, Brendan has used large ground-based radio telescopes, such as LOFAR and UTR-2, as well as space-based X-ray instruments, such as RHESSI, to analyse images and spectra originating from flaring regions. His current research focuses on understanding the presence of pulsations that are observed in solar flares and what they tell us about energy release processes in the solar atmosphere.

Biographical Sketch: In 2016, Brendan completed his undergraduate studies at Trinity College Dublin in Physics and Astrophysics. After graduating, he worked as a research assistant at the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy in the University of Amsterdam. Here, he worked with professor Sera Markoff whose research focuses on the interface between astrophysics and particle physics. He then took a brief break from academia and moved to Alien Technology Transfer where he worked as a project manager. In this role, he collaborated with innovative SMEs across Europe and helped a number of young businesses win funding through the EU Horizon 2020 programme. Brendan is currently a PhD researcher at Trinity College Dublin and the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies where he researches the nature of the Sun’s most energetic events, flares and CMEs, from a multi-wavelength perspective.

Brendan is funded via the European Space Agency PRODEX Programme.