I am passionate about communicating science to the general public. I regularly give public lectures to a wide variety of audiences and appear on TV and radio. I am actively involved in a number of initiatives to involve the public in astronomy and physics.

 

I give a number of public talks on astronomy and related topics aimed at a range of audiences from the general public, particularly those with no particular background in physics or astronomy, to specialist astronomical societies. In addition to my own talks, I am the host and co-ordinator of the KIPAC Discover our Universe public lecture series from Stanford University.

I host stargazing evenings and demonstrations of modern and historical telescopes as well as presenting live planetarium shows.

I am always happy to give talks on contemporary topics in astronomy and physics. If you would like to know more, please get in touch.

Videos of public lectures I have given are available here:
Supermassive Black Holes – Monsters Lurking in the Hearts of Galaxies
Reaching for the Heavens
Born from the Stars

I regularly give astronomy lectures on board Cunard Line ships as part of the Cunard Insights programme. I am usually on board the flagship Queen Mary 2 for at least one Transatlantic Crossing each year, in addition to occasional appearances on parts of the World Voyage and on Queen Elizabeth. On each voyage, I give a variety of lectures on contemporary topics across astronomy, present live planetarium shows on Queen Mary 2 (in the largest planetarium at sea) and, weather permitting, host stargazing evenings on the decks.

I have appeared a number of times, as a professional astronomer, on television and radio, discussing my own research as well as other topics across astronomy in the news. I have appeared on BBC Sky at Night and have discussed advancements in my own research on abc7 San Francisco, CTV News and Global News in Canada, and numerous other media outlets worldwide.

I have hosted stargazing evenings for a wide variety of groups; school parties, youth groups, summer schools and the general public. Evenings typically involve a talk on contemporary topics in astronomy, followed by stargazing both with the naked eye and a variety of historical and modern telescopes as well as tours of and demonstrations of the telescopes themselves. We have observed a variety of planets, star clusters, galaxies and nebulae.