It's not an easy question when people ask me, 'So what is it you're studying in university?'. The official answer is that I'm currently in my final year of an MSci course in Physics with Space Science. The complication starts with the type of degree: people in UK would probably know what an MSci is, but for those who aren't from the UK, the MSci is basically a 4-year science qualification (the engineering equivalent is MEng) designed to try and match European undergraduate degrees, which typically take 5 years and is far more advanced than the British 3-year BSc.

My course is basically 75% physics with the rest being covered by the umbrella description 'space science', which involves space exploration of the solar system and the immediate near-Earth environment. My space science courses embraced both the science as well as the technical engineering and instrumental aspects involved in the subject, so I've learnt quite a bit of spacecraft engineering as well.

I chose this subject because I wanted to go into planetary exploration, but after a year or two in university, my interest turned gradually towards physics and astronomy. Indeed, my summer research experiences since 2nd year have all been in astrophysics, and my term projects in uni have been on astrophysics as well. And so it was that my PhD applications were all in astrophysics.

However, in the past year or so, my interests have yet again made a subtle shift. I've become interested in the early universe, in the era between the Big Bang and the formation of the earliest galaxies. This involves astronomical observations of the cosmic microwave background, but I have been fascinated by the interpretation of the data and the knowledge we can learn about the earliest epochs of the universe. This involves a lot of fundamental physics and mathematics... indeed, this field is the stomping ground of a lot of theoretical physicists. I'm hoping to be able to enter this field, but my undergraduate courses have sacrificed some mathematics and theoretical physics in order to concentrate on engineering and space science, so I have to try and make up for my deficiencies while in graduate school.

There are many exciting fields in physics and astronomy, but I get shivers down my spine whenever I think about the earliest stages of the universe, when it was just cooling down from the violence of the Big Bang, and before the earliest galaxies coagulated from the pristine elements. I hope I have what it takes to be part of the effort to understand this magnificent subject....