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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>Robb Calder - Astrophysics Doctoral Researcher</title>
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<meta name="description" content="Robb, PhD student researching atmospheres of hot rocky planets and runaway greenhouse effects.">
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<a href="#about" class="site-title">Robb Calder</a>
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<span></span><span></span><span></span>
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<nav id="site-nav">
<a href="#about">About</a>
<a href="#research">Research</a>
<a href="#publications">Publications</a>
<a href="#cv">CV</a>
<a href="#contact">Contact</a>
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<main>
<section id="about" class="section">
<div class="section-inner about-layout">
<span class="portrait-frame">
<img class="portrait" src="images/RCalder_1.jpg" alt="Portrait photo of Robb Calder" />
</span>
<div>
<h1>Robb Calder</h1>
<p class="subtitle">Astrophysics PhD Student, University of Cambridge</p>
<p><strong>How can we discover what makes a planet habitable, by learning how it can become uninhabitable?</strong> My research uses models of planetary interiors and atmospheres to trace how planets evolve toward, or away from, habitable conditions, from abiotic ozone in Venus' atmosphere to sub-Neptunes whose magma oceans never solidify. I am currently developing an end-to-end modelling pipeline to compare my models to observations of sub-Neptune atmospheres. Looking ahead, I want to fold cloud and haze physics into these models, sharpening the tools needed to interpret the next generation of habitability missions.</p>
<p class="profile-links">
<a href="https://scixplorer.org/search?d=general&p=1&q=pos(author%3A%22Calder%2CRobb%22%2C1%2C5)+and+year%3A2022-&sort=date+desc"><i class="fas fa-book" aria-hidden="true"></i> Science Explorer Profile</a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="research" class="section">
<div class="section-inner">
<h2>Research</h2>
<article class="research-item">
<h3>Magma Oceans on Sub-Neptunes</h3>
<p>Can sub-Neptunes, planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune, ever be habitable? They're the most common type of planet in the galaxy, but we don't know whether the magma oceans they're born with ever solidify. My recent research has shown that the majority of the sub-Neptunes we've found could remain molten permanently, and never become habitable. Currently, I'm developing a modelling pipeline that can compare models of molten sub-Neptunes with observations, to determine if well-known sub-Neptunes like K2-18 b and TOI-270 d could have magma oceans. Going forward, I want to enhance my models of sub-Neptune evolution by incorporating cloud and haze physics into the pipeline.</p>
<img src="images/Slide2.jpg" alt="Diagram of magma ocean evolution beneath a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere on a sub-Neptune" />
</article>
<article class="research-item">
<h3>Ozone on Venus</h3>
<p>Previously, my research focused on ozone in the atmospheres of Venus-like planets. The presence of an ozone layer in Venus' atmosphere is a puzzle, given that atmospheric ozone is considered a strong marker of an inhabited planet. If a similar ozone layer were found on other Venus-like worlds, it could complicate the use of ozone as a marker for identifying habitable Earth-like planets. Using atmospheric models, I found that Venus' observed ozone levels can't be explained by known abiotic chemistry. This motivates further work to find out which pathways are producing the ozone on Venus, and whether these pathways could also act on Venus-like exoplanets.</p>
<img src="images/Slide1.jpg" alt="Diagram of abiotic ozone formation in the atmosphere of Venus" />
</article>
</div>
</section>
<section id="publications" class="section">
<div class="section-inner">
<h2>Selected Publications</h2>
<ul class="publications">
<li><strong>Calder, R.</strong>, Shorttle, O., Nicholls, H., Lichtenberg, T., & Guimond, C. M. (2026). <strong class="pub-title">Most rocky sub-Neptunes are molten: mapping the solidification shoreline for gas dwarf exoplanets.</strong> Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 549(3), stag1007. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/549/3/stag1007/8700167">(link)</a>.</li>
<li><strong>Calder, R.</strong>, Shorttle, O., Jordan, S., Rimmer, P., & Constantinou, T. (2025). <strong class="pub-title">Abiotic ozone in the observable atmospheres of Venus and Venus-like exoplanets.</strong> Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 540(3), 2432-2450. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/540/3/2432/8142531">(link)</a>.</li>
<li>Nicholls, H., Lichtenberg, T., Riegler, B.,<strong> Calder, R.</strong>, & Fortuin, V. (2026). <strong class="pub-title">Constraining the lives and times of exoplanets through evolutionary Bayesian retrievals.</strong> arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.25845. <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.25845">(link)</a>.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
<section id="cv" class="section">
<div class="section-inner">
<h2>CV</h2>
<a class="button" href="Academic_CV.pdf" download><i class="fas fa-download" aria-hidden="true"></i> Download CV (PDF)</a>
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<p>Your browser can’t display the CV inline. <a href="Academic_CV.pdf">Download it here</a>.</p>
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</section>
<section id="contact" class="section">
<div class="section-inner">
<h2>Contact</h2>
<h3>Address</h3>
<p>
<i class="fas fa-map-marker-alt" aria-hidden="true"></i>
Institute of Astronomy<br>
Madingley Rd, Cambridge<br>
CB3 0HA
</p>
<h3>E-mail</h3>
<p><i class="fas fa-envelope" aria-hidden="true"></i> <a href="mailto:rdc49@cam.ac.uk">rdc49@cam.ac.uk</a></p>
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<p>© 2026 Robb Calder</p>
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