Professor Ross Galloway Inaugural Lecture: Physics Education Research: how it relates to my life, and yours

About this lecture

When I started my research career, I was an astrophysicist, working on the physics of electrons in solar flares. So how do I find myself now as a Professor, not of Astrophysics, but of Physics Education? In this lecture I will give an account of my unconventional academic career journey, against the wider backdrop of my life, and describe how I got from there to here. Along the way, I have come to realise that some of the concepts and ideas I work with now in Physics Education Research extend beyond the confines of physics, and tell us something more general about how we live and learn as human beings. I hope to convince you of how these ideas have influenced my life, and may have influenced yours too!

Biography

Ross was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, and grew up in Ardrossan. He completed his undergraduate degree in Physics & Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, then stayed on there for a PhD and post-doc in Solar Physics. He then shifted field to physics education as a University Teacher at Glasgow, before joining the School of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh in 2009 as a lecturer and researcher in physics education. He has been here ever since, with a stint as the School's Director of Teaching, and was appointed to a Personal Chair of Physics Education in August 2024. He is married and has a young son, and two cats.

Refreshments

The lecture will be followed by a reception in the foyer, Nucleus Building.

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Event resources