Perth welcomes Dr George Heald

Dr George Heald with the VLA

Dr Heald will work with a selection of postdocs and students, and a number of new staff that will form a Perth-based Astrophysics group for CSIRO’s Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) division. This team will include a number of research astronomers jointly funded by CASS, The University of Western Australia (UWA) and Curtin University.

“This new CSIRO role, as well as the further expansion of our Perth office, will provide a boost to CSIRO’s involvement in low frequency radio astronomy,” says CASS Director Lewis Ball, “George will lead our engagement in this field, especially through working closely with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope, as well as continuing his contributions to LOFAR key science. This team will provide a great boost to our efforts in imaging and calibration – both at low frequencies and in the polarisation domain for ASKAP.”

The CASS Perth Astrophysics team will interact closely with colleagues at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) under the umbrella of the CSIRO–ICRAR Strategic Alliance of 2014.

Dr Heald will commence his new position early in 2016. As part of the Science Leader package, two postdoc positions to be based in the Perth office will be advertised from 1 October.

Article based on this CSIRO news item.

A ‘dish’ antenna belonging to CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope.