Question: What inspired you/led you up to your current project?

Miriam Hogg answered on 14 Nov 2018:

I chose my current project based on what looked interesting in the area I study. I started my PhD looking at mass transferring from one star to another in binary systems. From there I was given some data on very close binaries with a white dwarf (and star that has run out of fuel and ‘died’) and a brown dwarf (a failed star). For my final project my supervisor told me to look into the current research being done and find something that interested me. I came up with a few projects I thought I might like to do and my supervisor flagged one where we might get some interesting results. So I chose that one! (It’s looking at how asteroids act when they come close to a white dwarf)

Sometimes PhD supervisors have a particular set of research projects in mind when they take on a student but other times its a bit more free form and goes with the flow of whats going on at the time.
But really I just happened to notice some papers on white dwarfs and asteroids hitting them and found it interesting!