Science of Santa Claus

I am a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool. My research interests have centred around the applications of imaging and spectroscopy to fields such as nanoscience, geomaterials, biomedical imaging and infrared spectroscopy. My teaching to undergraduate students has covered many topics and included supervision of astrophysics students on astronomy field trips to the Teide Observatory in Tenerife.

My interest in astronomy predates my professional career as a physicist. I have given hundreds of astronomy-related talks to astronomical societies, special interest groups and schools to an audience totalling over 20,000 people. As a result of giving these outreach talks I was awarded the Sir Patrick Moore Prize in 2019 by the British Astronomical Association.