Prospective Students

In July 2027 I will join the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria as an Assistant Professor. I am building a research group working on exoplanets, Gaia astrometry, and the statistical methods and instruments behind them.

I am considering applications for MSc and PhD students to start from September 2027 onward. I am also happy to hear from undergraduates interested in summer or co-op projects.

Why Victoria?

Victoria is one of the best places in Canada to study exoplanets. UVic astronomers work closely with the National Research Council's Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre (NRC HAA), home of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre, and the instrument labs that are building parts of GPI 2.0. I have worked at NRC HAA since 2023, and students in my group will collaborate with researchers there as well as with the international teams I work with.

Our work uses data from Gaia, JWST, Keck, Gemini, and the VLT Interferometer, plus large computing resources from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. The timing is good, too: Gaia's fourth data release in December 2026 will open up a huge new sample of planets to discover and study.

What we work on

Below are examples of the kinds of projects students in my group can take on. They are not a fixed list. Projects are shaped around each student's interests, and many combine more than one area.

• Planets in Gaia DR4. Detecting and characterizing new giant planets and brown dwarfs with Gaia epoch astrometry, and measuring how often they occur around stars of different masses, compositions, and ages.
• Joint orbit modelling. Combining astrometry with radial velocities, transits, direct imaging, and interferometry to measure full three-dimensional orbits and true masses. Much of this happens in Octofitter, an open-source package that past students have added major features to.
• Imaging the planets Gaia finds. Using JWST and large ground-based telescopes to directly image astrometrically detected planets and measure their atmospheres, which tells us how they formed.
• Instruments and wavefront control. Focal-plane wavefront sensing and coherent differential imaging for ground-based instruments like SPIDERS and GPI 2.0, and for future space telescopes such as NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory.
• Statistics and computing. Bayesian inference at the scale of millions of stars, hierarchical population models, model validation, and high-performance computing.

You can read more on my research pages and in my short introduction to astrometry.

Who should apply

I welcome students with a background in physics, astronomy, computer science, statistics, engineering, or a related field. Some programming experience is helpful. Most of our code is written in Julia and Python, but you do not need to know Julia already.

I want my group to be a welcoming place for everyone. I especially encourage applications from people in groups that are underrepresented in physics and astronomy.

Funding

Graduate students in UVic Physics and Astronomy are supported through a combination of research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and scholarships. We will discuss funding directly before you accept an offer. If you are eligible, I strongly encourage you to also apply for external scholarships, such as those from NSERC. These are prestigious, and they give you more flexibility in your research.

How to apply

1. Email me first. Write to William [dot] Thompson [at] nrc-cnrc [dot] gc [dot] ca with a CV, unofficial transcripts, and a few sentences about what interests you and why. Please mention whether you are applying for an MSc or a PhD, and for which year.
2. Apply to UVic. Submit an application to the MSc or PhD program in Physics and Astronomy through the UVic application portal, by 1 December for September entry.
3. Name me as a potential supervisor in your application.

Students with a recognized MSc are admitted directly to the PhD program. For details on admission requirements, see the program pages linked above or contact the department's graduate office.

Undergraduate students

I have supervised undergraduate co-op students on projects ranging from adding radial-velocity modelling to Octofitter to writing control software for the SPIDERS instrument. If you are an undergraduate interested in a summer research or co-op position, please email me with a CV and a short note about your interests. Canadian students may also be eligible for an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award.

Last updated October 2026

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