OpenLearn Profile

Helen Fraser

Helen Fraser

Department of Physical Sciences

Professional biography
Helen is Senior Lecturer in the OU's Department of Physical Sciences. Helen heads the Astrochemistry Research group in the department of Physical Sciences at the OU. Her group is interested in understanding how star and planets form, and whether or not there is life elsewhere in the universe. By combining astronomical observations of star forming regions with laboratory experiments and computer simulations they build up a picture of how chemicals form, react and evolve during this extra-terrestrial evolution. She and her colleagues might one day be found on a parabolic flight, another up a valcanoe in Hawaii, or burried in a concrete bunker at a syncrotron facility - or just on a high-performance computer at their desks, or even in the astrochemistry labs at the OU - all in the name of science.