We welcome Prof Derek Ward-Thompson who joined us on 1st July 2012 as new Director of the JHI.
Derek is a world-leading researcher in the astrophysics of the formation of stars and planets. He has published extensively in high-impact journals in astronomy and astrophysics, attracting over 4000 citations to his more than 100 refereed research papers.
He is also very active in promoting public outreach programmes in science and is currently President of the Society for Popular Astronomy.
Derek joins us from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Cardiff, where he was Deputy Head of School.
Previously, Derek read Physics as an undergraduate at Oxford University, obtained his PhD in Astronomy from Durham University, and was a post-doctoral researcher at both Cambridge University and at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. Interestingly, Derek has also previously worked in Preston, as a post-doctoral researcher at the then Lancashire Polytechnic, the precursor institution to UCLan, in the 1980s.
The outgoing Director, Professor Gordon Bromage, will be supporting him for a transitional period during 2012/13.