Annette M. N. Ferguson

I am a Professor of Astrophysics at the Institute for Astronomy, which is part of the School of Physics and Astronomy, at the University of Edinburgh. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

My research focuses on understanding how galaxies form and evolve through detailed analyses of their structures, kinematics and stellar content. My primary interest is in nearby galaxies, such as those within or just beyond our own Local Group. These systems can be resolved into individual stars and star clusters, the analyses of which reveal the fossil record of their star formation, chemical enrichment and mass assembly histories. Current projects are based on state-of-the-art datasets from some of the world’s largest telescopes (Subaru, VLT, Gemini) as well as high precision photometric observations with the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s recently-launched Euclid satellite.  I am also involved in planning for the scientific exploitation of data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.