Me


Time passes...	I was wearing the hat under duress.	High-brow relaxation - note the quality chips...	The sophisticated Caltech post-doc look.	The better half by herself.

Two portraits of me by	... my lovely cousins	Her and me.	Working on the beach with Rob	The old office in Durham

...the old (new) office	At work...	enjoying Gemini	start of the night	Night-time on Mauna Kea

I first came to Durham as a graduate student in 1989 after Cambridge. I spent three and a half years here on my thesis (Gravitational Lensing by Rich Clusters) with Richard Ellis as my advisor. In 1993, having submitted my thesis, I left Durham for sunny southern California to take up a NATO Advanced Fellowship in the Physics, Math and Astronomy Division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. I spent 18 months at Caltech before moving my fellowship two miles up the hill to the hipper surroundings of the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington on Santa Barbara Street. When my NATO Fellowship finished I stayed on at OCIW as a Carnegie Fellow for a year and then took up a PPARC Advanced Fellowship back in Durham at the beginning of 1996. In 1998 I traded in the PPARC AF for a Royal Society University Research Fellowship which was renewed until 2008 when I moved onto the academic staff of the Physics Department. I was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize Fellowship in 2001 in recognition of my research and a Chair in the Department of Physics at Durham in 2004.

I am currently an emeritus Professor of Physics in the Center for Extragalactic Astronomy (CEA) within the Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics. I was the Founding Director of CEA. I was awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship in 2011. In 2012 I was awarded an European Research Council Advanced Investigator grant to support my DustyGal research programme until 2018, along with a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award. Between 2008-2017 I was ranked as one of the most highly-cited Space Science researchers over the previous decade by Clarivate Analytics. These analyses have consistently placed Durham top-six globally in terms of the number of highly-cited researchers.

Research Career

2015-2017		Director, Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Durham University.
2015-2017		Managing Director, Durham Astronomy Research Cluster.
2013-2018		Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award holder.
2013-2018		ERC Advanced Grant Principle Investigator, Durham University.
2011-2013		Leverhulme Research Fellow, Durham University.
2009-2015		Head of Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University.
2004-2022		Personal Chair, Department of Physics, Durham University.
2001-2003		Philip Leverhulme Prize Fellow, University of Durham.
1998-2008		Royal Society University Research Fellow, Durham University.
1996-1998		PPARC Advanced Fellow, University of Durham.
1995		Carnegie Fellow, The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
1993-1995		NATO Advanced Fellow, California Institute of Technology.
1989-1993		Ph.D. (Astronomy), University College, University of Durham.
1987-1989		M.A. (Nat. Sci.), Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge.

2006-		International Astronomical Union Member.
1998		Honorary Visiting Fellow in the School of Physics, University of New South Wales.
1996-1997		Visiting Research Associate at the Carnegie Observatories.

External Committees and Posts

2021-2022		UoA9 Panel Member, Research Excellence Framework.
2019-2025		Fachbeirat Panel Member (MPIA), Max Planck Society.
2019-2020		Fellowships Panel Member, Royal Astronomical Society.
2017-2021		Extended Panel Member, Royal Society Fellowships Panel.
2017		Vice-chair, Strategic review of Radio Astronomy, STFC.
2015-2019		Chair, External Advisory Panel, Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central Lancashire.
2015-2018		Deputy Chair, ESO Scientific Technical Committee (STC).
2014-2021		Associate Editor, Royal Society Open Science journal (RSOS).
2014-2018		UK member of the ESO Scientific Technical Committee (STC).
2014-2018		Member of the ALMA European Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC).
2014-2016		Chair of the STFC Astronomy Grants Panel.
2011-2012		Deputy Chair of the STFC Astronomy Grants Panel.
2012		ESO OPC Panel Chair.
2011		Member at Large on the ESO OPC.
2007-2010		Member of the STFC Astronomy Grants Panel.
2009		Advisor to the ESO OPC.
2008-2009		Member of the VLA/VLBA Referee Panel.
2007-2009		Member of the JCMT Time Allocation Committee.
2008		Member of the JCMT International Time Allocation Panel.
2007		Member of the STFC Far-IR and Submm Advisory Panel.
2006		Member of the ASTRONET EU FP6 ERA-Net.
2005-2008		Member of the Royal Society Conference and Short Visit Grants Panel.
2005		Member of the JCMT International Review Committee.
2005		Member of the Cycle 2 Spitzer Space Telescope Peer Review Panel.
2004-2008		Member of the JWST-MIRI Oversight Committee.
2004-2007		Member of the PPARC Astronomy Grants Committee (Observational Sub-panel).
2004-2005		Member of the JCMT Survey Steering Group.
2003-2013		Member of the UK ALMA Oversight Committee.
2003		International Referee for the Subaru Time Allocation Panel.
2003		Member of the Cycle 13 Hubble Space Telescope Peer Review Panel.
2001-2009		External Project Scientist for SCUBA-2.
2001		Member of the PPARC Oversight Committee.
1999-2001		Member of the UK Infrared Telescope Board.
1999-2000		Member of the Astronomy Panel of the PPARC Long-Term Science Review ("Vision" Panel).
1998-2001		Member of the UK Infrared Telescope Time Allocation Committee.
1998		Member of the GBFC Advisory Panel - "Astronomy in the Next Decade".

Other stuff...

[Pix 1] [Pix 2]	[Pix 1] [Pix 2] [Pix 3] [Pix 4] [Pix 5]	[White water] [White water]
Various mosaics, some in situ.	Pix from the Maldives [11/00].	Misc pix.

[Ridge from Subaru] [Mayall 4m] [North Kohola] [Scott making history] [Rob bitching about HDF850.1] [Rob contemplating infinity] [Wet boy]	[Andrew "Observing"] [Check out that chin] [Old photo from CTIO] [Scott on the wall]	[Scott narging, Cozumel] [Pyramid, Chichen Itza] [Pillar, Chichen Itza] [Scott+Pyramid] [Sink hole]
Pix from observing runs.	More observing runs.	Pix from Cozumel.

Various landscape pix can be found on this page.

Several posters I have worked on can be found here.

...and here's a picture of my mother at the opening of a museum in Edinburgh. Pix of R&A+sprogs - [1, 2]

IAN SMAIL

Research Career

External Committees and Posts

Other stuff...