[5] Watts completed her PhD[2] in physics supervised by Nils Andersson (physicist) [Wikidata] in the general relativity group researching neutron stars.
[5][6] After her PhD Watts moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a postdoctoral fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Working with Tod Strohmayer she identified the hidden structure of a neutron star; a 1.6 km crust made of material so dense a teaspoon would weigh 10 million tonnes.
[10] In 2014 she received an ERC Starter Grant worth €1,500,000 to study the physics of neutron star explosions.
[12] For the Chinese-European Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission, she is chair of the Dense Matter Science Working Group.