Position:

Personal Chair in Observational Astrophysics

Research Theme:

Astronomy

Institution:

Edinburgh

Email address:

ferguson@roe.ac.uk

Website:

http://www.roe.ac.uk/~ferguson

Telephone number:

+44 (0)131 668 8401

Address:

Institute for Astronomy, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, United Kingdom

Research interests

I work at the Institute for Astronomy, which is part of the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh.    My research focuses on understanding how galaxies form and evolve through observational analysis of the structure, kinematics and stellar content of galaxies in and beyond the Local Group.  My work involves utilising state-of-the-art ground-based surveys (e.g. PAndAS, Pan-STARRS PS1, Gaia-ESO), observations with some of the world's largest telescopes (e.g. Subaru, VLT, Gemini) and high precision photometric observations with the Hubble Space Telescope.   I am also involved in planning for the scientific exploitation of data from ESA's Gaia and Euclid missions, as well as the LSST.

Teaching

I have taught a range of undergraduate courses at the University of Edinburgh. I currently co-teach Discovering Astronomy, a large first-year course aimed at students not specialising in the physical sciences, and Astrophysics, a 4th year course for astronomy majors. 

Since 2011, I have served as a Personal Tutor in the School of Physics and Astronomy overseeing the academic progress of typically ~30 undegraduates per year.