Simo’s Homepage

Teaching

Teaching & supervision

Approach

My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that students learn best when exposed to the full life-cycle of hypothesis testing: from raw data analysis to the statistical testing of state-of-the-art physics models. I hold a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) and was recognised as a Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA) in 2022.

Courses taught

  • United Kingdom

    Durham University

    • User’s Guide to the Night Sky (PHYS1081)Year 1 course leader, introductory astronomy (~170 students, 2025–present)
    • Stars and Galaxies (PHYS2621)Year 2 leader for the “Stars” section (~180 students, 2020–2026)
    • Laboratory Skills and Electronics (PHYS2641)Year 2 supervisor (~30 students, 2020–2026)
    • Stellar Structure and EvolutionFirst-year PhD course (~20 students, 2021–2026)
    • Data Reduction TechniquesFirst-year PhD workshop (~20 students, 2021–2024)
  • United States

    Texas Tech University

    • Stellar Astronomy (ASTR1401)Year 1 course leader covering stellar properties and cosmic scales (~200 students, 2018–2019)
    • Solar System Astronomy (ASTR1400)Year 1 course leader introducing planetary dynamics (~360 students, 2019–2020)
    • Stellar Structure and Evolution (ASTR4301)Year 3–4 course leader (~30 students, 2018–2020)
  • New Zealand

    University of Canterbury

    • Observational Astrophysics (ASTR211)Year 2 course leader. Designed the curriculum, lectures and workshops, and led a two-week observing field trip to Mt John Observatory, Lake Tekapo (~40 students, 2017–2018)
    • Stellar Structure (ASTR326/426)Year 3–4 course leader (~30 students, 2017–2020)
    • Introductory Physics for Physical Science and Engineering (PHYS111)Year 1 leader for “Classical Mechanics” (~250 students, 2017–2018)

Supervision & mentoring

I have supervised and mentored researchers at every stage of their academic careers:

  • 4postdoctoral research associates
  • 3PhD students
  • 10+Master’s students

Many of these alumni have gone on to PhD positions and research fellowships in academia. Others have used their advanced computational and data-handling training to build careers in industry across Europe, as senior software engineers, cloud architects, medical physicists and research project managers.