Jayde Willingham

Master of Research

Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, Feb 2025 - Nov 2025

Supervisor: Andrew Hopkins and Tayyaba Zafar
The Master of Research at Macquarie University is a one year full time research degree with a Thesis submission. My project focuses on refining dust extinction corrections in Hα luminosity functions using a radio-based calibration approach. This simple and innovative approach aims to open the conversation for alternative dust obscuration corrections when the optical based approaches we've come to rely on, no longer work at higher redshift. Throughout this work it has been shown that the locally calibrated H𝛼–radio relation significantly overestimates the cosmic SFRD by more than two orders of magnitude at 𝑧 ≳ 1. By contrast, a model in which dust extinction decreases with increasing redshift succeeds in reproducing observed SFRDs across cosmic history.

Bachelor of Philosophy

Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, Feb 2024 - Nov 2024

This first year is part of the Master of Research pathway at Macquarie University and it is composed of high level coursework that is aimed to prepare for independent research.
WAM: 81.5

Bachelor of Science

Physics, University of Newcastle, 2023

I completed this degree with distinction and developed a love of teaching and outreach in my time at UoN. My classes and research during this time consisted mainly of electromagnetism, quantum information and quantum optics.

Bachelor of Mathematics

Pure and Applied Mathematics, University of Newcastle, 2023

I completed this degree alongside my Bachelor of Science and also completed it with distinction. During this time I took classes in a range of topics from pure, applied and statistical mathematics.

ESO Summer Research Programme

Supervisors: Martyna Chruslinska and Mirko Curti
ESO, June 2025 - August 2025

Over this 6-week project, I contributed to investigating the growth of dense stellar systems throughout cosmic time by developing and testing semi-empirical models of cluster evolution and their influence on the cosmic star formation history.
One of seven chosen out of 484 applicants.
Read more about my Germany journey right here!

CSIRO Studentship

Supervisor: Dr Maxim Voronkov
CSIRO, November 2024 - February 2025

We investigated the hyperfine structures of methanol masers in observational radio data. Our work included simulating these structures, modeling the data, and applying statistical analyses to better understand these poorly characterized features and their potential implications.

Bachelor of Philosophy Research

Supervisor: Professor Andrew Hopkins
Macquarie University, 2024

This study quantifies uncertainties, evaluates the robustness of star formation rate (SFR) calculations, and compares their performance to model-derived SFRs, highlighting areas for improvement within the field.

Bachelor of Philosophy Research

Supervisor: Dr Tayyaba Zafar
Macquarie University, 2024

We explored the viability of using observational radio fluxes from star-forming galaxies to constrain spectral energy distribution models, enabling improved parameter estimation.

University of Newcastle Summer Research

Supervisor: Assosciate Professor Karen Livesey
University of Newcastle, 2023

A computational study of the properties of multi-level antiferromagnetic spin systems, involving the derivation of system equations and their analysis using MATLAB.

Undergraduate Research

Supervisor: Assosciate Professor Lachlan Rogers
University of Newcastle, 2022

Here we investigate how the laser power dependence affects the photon auto- correlation time scales in the g(2)(τ) function in order to make steps towards creating a rigorous model for analysing NV centres.

“EMU/GAMA: Refining Dust Extinction Corrections for Hα Luminosity Functions Using Radio-Based Calibration.”

2025, PASA Under Review.
J. Willingham, A. Hopkins, T. Zafar, J. Afonso, U. T. Ahmed, A. Ahmad, A. Battisti, D. Bomans, M. J. I. Brown, M. Cowley, D. Farrah, T. J. Galvin, B. Holwerda, D. Leahy, U. Maio, T. Mukherjee, J. Prathap, N. Seymour, J. Th. van Loon, and E. Ward

“EMU/GAMA: A statistical perspective on active galactic nuclei diagnostics.”

2025, PASA Under Review.
J. Prathap, A. M. Hopkins, R. Carvajal, M. Cowley, S. M. Croom, D. Farrah, I. Prandoni, S. S. Shabala, J. Th. van Loon, C. Pappalardo, K. A. Pimbblet, U. T. Ahmed, M. Bilicki, M. J. I. Brown, D. Leahy, A. Mailvaganam, J. R. Marvil, T. Mukherjee, S. F. Rahman, T. Vernstrom, J. Willingham, and T. Zafar