Professor Richard Morton

Professor

School: Engineering, Physics and Mathematics

I am currently a Professor at Northumbria and hold a UKRI Future Leader Fellowship. I obtained my PhD in 2012 from the University of Sheffield and moved to Northumbria shortly after as a University Research Fellow. In 2014 I obtained a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellowship.

I currently lead a small research group (inc. post-doctoral researcher, PhD & Masters students) who are motivated to understand the role magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves play in transferring energy through the Sun’s atmosphere, powering the heating of the million-degree solar wind and its acceleration to a million miles per hour. My contribution to the field of Solar Physics has been recognised with the award of the Royal Astronomical Society's Winton Capital prize 2015 and Fowler Award` (2021).

I primarily uses data from satellites and ground-based telescopes to undertake my research; hence I have an interest in the different methodologies required for analysing data. This links to my teaching within the University, where I have designed courses on working with astrophysical data and data science techniques.

I am enthusiastic about outreach and have recently completed a successful project called ‘Imagining the Sun’ (STFC funded), working with schools, education authorities, artists and poets, to deliver a combined science and art programme (https://nustem.uk/imagining-the-sun/).

Email Richard

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My UKRI Future Leader Fellowship project is called 'Revealing the Pattern of Solar Alfvenic Waves (RiPSAW)' and involves utilising remote observations of the Sun to probe the role of Magnetohydrodynamic waves in heating the outer layers of the Sun's atmosphere.

I typically work with data from satellites that observes the Sun in EUV (Solar Dynamics Observatory, Hi-C) and data from ground-based telescopes (Coronal Multi-Channel Polarimeter) that examines infra-red emission from the solar corona.

I am interested in developing and using modern methods for data analysis, including numerical Bayesian analysis, Machine Learning and Neural Networks.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Calculating metalation in cells reveals CobW acquires CoII for vitamin B12 biosynthesis while related proteins prefer ZnII, Young, T., Martini, M., Foster, A., Glasfeld, A., Osman, D., Morton, R., Deery, E., Warren, M., Robinson, N. 1 Dec 2021, In: Nature Communications
Global maps of the magnetic field in the solar corona, Yang, Z., Bethge, C., Tian, H., Tomczyk, S., Morton, R., Del Zanna, G., McIntosh, S., Gibson, S., Samanta, T., He, J., Chen, Y., Wang, L. 7 Aug 2020, In: Science
The Drivers of Active Region Outflows into the Slow Solar Wind, Brooks, D., Winebarger, A., Savage, S., Warren, H., De Pontieu, B., Peter, H., Cirtain, J., Golub, L., Kobayashi, K., McIntosh, S., McKenzie, D., Morton, R., Rachmeler, L., Testa, P., Tiwari, S., Walsh, R. May 2020, In: Astrophysical Journal
A chromospheric resonance cavity in a sunspot mapped with seismology, Jess, D., Snow, B., Houston, S., Botha, G., Fleck, B., Prasad, S., Asensio Ramos, A., Morton, R., Keys, P., Jafarzadeh, S., Stangalini, M., Grant, S., Christian, D. 1 Mar 2020, In: Nature Astronomy
A basal contribution from p-modes to the Alfvénic wave flux in the Sun’s corona, Morton, R., Weberg, M., McLaughlin, J. 1 Mar 2019, In: Nature Astronomy
A Theory of Change for improving children's perceptions, aspirations and uptake of STEM careers, Davenport, C., Dele-Ajayi, O., Emembolu, I., Morton, R., Padwick, A., Portas, A., Sanderson, J., Shimwell, J., Stonehouse, J., Strachan, R., Wake, L., Wells, G., Woodward, J. 1 Aug 2021, In: Research in Science Education
Investigating Alfvénic wave propagation in coronal open-field regions, Morton, R., Tomczyk, S., Pinto, R. 2015, In: Nature Communications
Bacterial sensors define intracellular free energies for correct enzyme metalation, Osman, D., Martini, M., Foster, A., Chen, J., Scott, A., Morton, R., Steed, J., Lurie-Luke, E., Huggins, T., Lawrence, A., Deery, E., Warren, M., Chivers, P., Robinson, N. 1 Mar 2019, In: Nature Chemical Biology

PGR Supervision

Nikita Balodhi Bayes in space: adding uncertainty to deep learning in solar physics Start Date: 17/03/2023
Hemanthi Miriyala The Excitation of Coronal Alfvénic Waves by the Internal Acoustic Modes Start Date: 20/03/2023 End Date: 23/05/2025
Nikita Balodhi Bayes in space: adding uncertainty to deep learning in solar physics Start Date: 17/03/2023 End Date: 17/10/2025