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Simon Driver

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ARC Laureate Fellow and Winthrop Research Professor at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, UWA., The University of Western Australia

My research is focused on understanding the evolution of mass (stars, gas, plasma, dark-matter), energy (photons), and structure (galaxies, groups, clusters, filaments and voids) over the 13.8 billion year life-time of our Universe. I do this by leading major survey programs to map or infer the 3D distribution of galaxies in space and time in order to study how their spectral and spatial properties have evolved. It is a little like taking a "core sample" through the Universe and comparing the different layers. A key aspect is the need to federate or fuse multi-spectral imaging data from a multitude of ground and space based facilities to measure energy outputs from X-ray to radio wavelengths. From these energy outputs we can derive the physical contents and properties of the structures we are studying as well as directly measuring the radiation incident on Earth from the Universe at large.

The major surveys in which I have been involved are:

- The Hubble Space Telescope Medium Deep Survey
- The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey ( http://magnum.anu.edu.au/~TDFgg/ )
- The Millennium Galaxy Catalogue ( https://hsweb.hs.uni-hamburg.de/projects/observational-astronomy/mgc/ )
- The Galaxy And Mass Assembly Survey ( http://www.gamasurvey.org )
- The Hubble Space Telescope SkySurf program ( http://skysurf.asu.edu/index.html )
- The JWST PEARLS Survey ( https://sites.google.com/view/jwstpearls?pli=1 )
- The Wide Area VISTA Extragalactic Survey ( https://wavesurvey.org commencing mid-2024)

Experience

  • 2022–present
    ARC Laureate Fellow, University of Western Australia
  • 2011–2022
    Winthrop Research Professor, University of Western Australia
  • 2006–2011
    Observatory Director, University of St Andrews
  • 2008–2011
    Professor, University of St Andrews
  • 2006–2008
    Reader, University of St Andrews
  • 2001–2006
    Fellow, Australian National University
  • 1998–2001
    Lecturer, University of St Andrews
  • 1995–1998
    Research fellow, University of New South Wales
  • 1994–1995
    Postdoctoral fellow, Arizona State University

Education

  • 1994 
    Cardiff University, PhD
  • 1988 
    Leicester University, BSc(Hons)

Professional Memberships

  • Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
  • Fellow of the Astronomical Society of Australia