X-Vision 2023

IAU I-HOW/COSPAR Capacity Building Workship, NWU Potchefstroom, South Africa, February 5-18 2023

I am a lecturer at the X-Vision 2023 IAU I-HOW and COSPAR Capacity Building workshop, providing a unique platform for students and young researchers from developing nations to learn how to analyse X-ray data from missions and to connect with researchers from across the globe.

I will deliver lectures about the astrophysics of AGN and how we can study AGN via X-ray observations, and will mentor students working with X-ray data and beginning research projects at the workshop. I will also lead a session about scientific presentation skills.

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN): An X-ray Perspective

Lecture 1 [slides]

• Introduction to AGN

• Observable structure of the central engine

• The accretion disc and corona

• Outflows and warm absorbers

• AGN feedback

Lecture 2 [slides]

• Seeing to the event horizon with X-ray reflection and reverberation

• Black hole mass and spin measurements

• Understanding the corona

• The formation and growth of supermassive black holes

The Basics of Scientific Presentation

Lecture covering presentation skills and tips for writing and delivering scientific talks [slides]