Tom Liggett is a London-based artist and final-year BA (Hons) Photography student at Arts University Bournemouth. His practice operates at the intersection of photography and science, investigating how invisible forces such as radiation, oxidation and electrical discharge can generate images beyond the limits of conventional photographic processes.
Joshua Weston is a PhD Candidate, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast.
“My research sits at the intersection of time-domain astrophysics, machine learning, and the societal implications of large-scale scientific automation. In particular, I am interested in how algorithmic systems can be designed, monitored and interpreted to translate high-volume survey data into reliable, high-fidelity transient discoveries, while retaining meaningful human oversight.
My current research focuses on:
Machine Learning for Transient Discovery and Host Association: I develop and deploy ML pipelines for real–bogus classification and extragalactic transient–host matching in major sky surveys. For the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), I retrained convolutional neural networks that reduced false positives in the data and significantly lowered human validation demands. I have also built software tools for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time Deep Drilling Fields, integrating archival data and applying interpretable ML to improve host galaxy identification for faint, high-redshift transients. Ongoing work focuses on early alert filtering via brokers such as Lasair and constructing robust transient samples.
AI, Citizen Science, and Responsible Survey Automation: As part of the Leverhulme Interdisciplinary Network on Algorithmic Solutions (LINAS), I examine how AI systems reshape discovery, expertise and public engagement in astronomy. I am developing a citizen-science framework to label early Rubin alerts and systematically compare expert and public classifications, quantifying their impact on model performance, bias and interpretability. This work situates large-survey automation within broader questions of transparent and sustainable human–AI collaboration in scientific research.”
Enrique Gaztanaga is Professor of Astrophysics at Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth.
“I also have a civil servant (on leave) appointment as Research Professor in the Institute of Space Studies (ICE) working for the Spanish National Research Council (www.csic.es) and the IEEC in Barcelona. My background is in Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. My expertise is in the area of theoretical models of Cosmology and the building and analysis of the largest Cosmic maps. I am currently director of the PAU Survey (pausurvey.org) and the Science Coordinator of ESA ARRAKIHS (arrakihs-mission.eu) space mission. I have lead and co-lead hundreds of publication in referee journals.”
Stephen Nowlin is Los Angeles-based artist, curator, and writer whose practice is inspired by science, the histories of science and art, and theories of knowledge. His work employs the use of digital tools, photography, and scanning technology, resulting in small and large-scale limited edition archival pigment prints. Artist in Residence, Mount Wilson Observatory, California.
Professor Marika Taylor is Pro Vice Chancellor and Head of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Marika commenced her career as an undergraduate student studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, inspired to follow this pathway having read “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking. After completing her undergraduate studies, Marika undertook a PhD with Hawking; her thesis “Problems in M-Theory” focused on black holes, string theory and holography.
Following a research fellowship at St John’s College, Cambridge, Marika moved to the Netherlands, working first at Utrecht University in the group of Nobel Laureate Gerard ‘t Hooft and then at the University of Amsterdam. In 2012 she moved to the University of Southampton as part of a strategic investment to establish a new research centre (STAG) bringing together gravity, high energy physics and astronomy. She later took on a variety of leadership roles at Southampton including Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences. She became a fellow of the Alan Turing Institute in 2019.
Her research interests range from mathematical and theoretical physics through to geometric AI and its applications; mathematical modelling for defence, security and finance, and the sociology of science. Marika has held many academic leadership roles nationally and internationally, including REF2021 panel member; advisory board of the Academy for Mathematical Sciences; advisory roles to government departments and agencies; chairing of research council committees and divisions in the UK and Europe, and leadership of the CERN GenHET initiative.
Csanád Horváth
“I am a radio astronomy PhD student at Curtin University in Western Australia. I study the recently discovered long-period radio transients; minute-to-hour period radio pulses which weren’t thought to exist before 2022.”
Natasha Hurley-Walker
“I am an Associate Professor at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. I received my PhD in Radio Astronomy from the University of Cambridge in 2010 and have led several large-area radio sky surveys with the Murchison Widefield Array, exploring a wide range of science topics including supernova remnants, galaxy clusters, radio galaxy life cycles, and transient astronomy. You can find out more about my outreach activities, awards, and media via my website.”
Geraldine Cox’s work is about finding resonant ways to express hidden aspects of nature and the journey of discovery. This research has taken her to the heart of the atom, the beginnings of the Universe and the essence of light. In 2020, she won the prestigious American Institute of Physics Gemant Award for ‘Physics Through Art’.
Primarily working with wood, Ben Rowe creates intriguing objects that draw the viewer into fascinating new worlds. Using geometrical shapes and mathematical laws applied in science and nature, he plays with notions of scale. Pulling down macro-objects such as asteroids and planets and blowing up micro-organisms, molecules and atoms, showing us their often overlooked, complex structures and frameworks, reflecting them back to us
Ione Parkin RWA is an abstract painter, co-lead artist on the Creativity and Curiosity project and an Honorary Visiting Fellow of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester. She is the curator of the exhibition ‘Cosmos: the art of observing Space’ currently showing at the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol (24th January-19th April 2026).
Louise Beer is an artist and curator, born in Aotearoa New Zealand, now working England. Louise uses installation, moving image, photography, writing, participatory works and sound to explore humanity’s evolving understanding of Earth’s environments and the cosmos. Her experience of living under two types of night sky, the first in low level light polluted areas in Aotearoa, and the second in higher level light polluted cities and towns in England, has deeply informed her practice. She explores how living under dark skies, or light polluted skies, can change our perception of grief, the climate crisis and Earth’s deep time history and future.