Over the past five years, there has been a flood of new observational evidence which strongly supports the view that stellar mass black holes are common place in our galaxy. Likewise, supermassive black holes may also occur in the centres of galaxies. It is proposed that the student presents a review of the theory of black hole formation, and a critical evaluation of the arguments used to deduce their existence in the universe.

The project can be mainly mathematical so no detailed knowledge is required of astrophysics.