Space Domain Leadership Team

UCL Space Domain Chair

After degrees in economics and in physics at LMU Munich (funded by the Maximilianeum Foundation, the German Studienstiftung, and the Max-Weber Programme), and a PhD funded by a Max-Planck IMPRS Fellowship, Ralph spent two years on a Hubble Fellowship in the United States. Before building his group at UCL, Ralph spent several years as Senior Researcher, College Lecturer and Royal Society University Research Fellow in Oxford. Ralph has further been awarded the Winton Capital Prize, the thesis prize of LMU Munich, and a few research grants.

His group uses modern satellite missions (e.g. Gaia) and ground-based survey. The group studies how spiral galaxies work and evolve, on the structure, chemical evolution, and history of our Galaxy in particular (on the Gaia satellite mission), and on the nature of dark matter. Further research interests range from multi-wavelength astronomy (e.g. X-ray missions like XMM Newton), to dynamics of the solar system, and statistical applications.

See Ralph's full research profile on UCL Profiles.

UCL Space Domain Co-Chair

Victor is committed as an anthropologist and social scientist to foster interdisciplinary research and training in the social sciences, arts and humanities as they relate to wider Space research at UCL and facilitate the innovative and valuable synergies that will entail.  This has been his ambition as part of his earlier role as the lead on Interdisciplinary Space Studies and Research at ESAlab@UCL. He is a member of the Space Habitats Committee of the International Astronautical Federation and has worked with the International Space University in Strasbourg and is Affiliate Member of the Centre for Outer Space Studies (COSS) at the Institute of Advanced Studies at UCL. 

He is currently Principal Investigator of a 5 year ERC project on the ethnographic study of the International Space Station: ETHNO-ISS.  The aim of this project is to provide an interdisciplinary and multi-cultural perspective on life on the ISS and its Mission Controls across Earth and their attendant communities. The project examines issues as wide ranging as astronaut training; architecture, design and manufacturing; management and logistics; visual culture; religious life; social media and robotics across the various international space agencies contributing to the modular architecture of the ISS.

He has also written extensively on the anthropology of material culture and architecture alongside previous research on the anthropology of utopian communities of the early Soviet State and the planning of the new capital of post-Soviet Kazakhstan. 

See Victor's full research profile on UCL Profiles.

UCL Space Domain Coordinator

Anna has a background in project management and building physics. She completed her PhD at the University of Bath, investigating the differences between zero-energy and zero-carbon buildings. Anna holds a Master’s degree in Construction Project Management from the University of Portsmouth and a BSc in Physics with Astrophysics from the University of Bristol.

Anna joined UCL in 2019 as the Research and Enterprise Manager for the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction where she managed the School's research portfolio and REF submission. In 2021, Anna undertook a secondment with UCL Innovation & Enterprise in the Business and Innovation Partnerships team supporting UCL’s institutional partnerships and helping UCL’s researchers navigate the innovation landscape.

Prior to joining UCL, Anna was a Project Manager at the National Physical Laboratory where she managed a portfolio of commercial and grant-funded research projects.