Dr Anke Ardern-Arentsen
About
Biography
I joined the University of Surrey in October 2026 as a Royal Society University Research Fellow, and will grow my research group here in the next few years.
Before moving to Surrey I was based at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge for four years, first on a Herchel Smith Fellowship and then as a research associate in the WEAVE team at the Cambridge Centre of Excellence for Astronomical Data (CamCEAD). Prior to that I spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory, France. I obtained my PhD at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam, Germany in 2020, and completed my undergraduate and master's studies at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
ResearchResearch interests
My research covers various topics within the field of 'Galactic Archaeology'. I study ancient stars to learn about the early history of the Milky Way, as well as to learn about star formation and the origin of the elements in the early Universe. I am an observational astronomer, using large datasets from for example Gaia, WEAVE, 4MOST and the Pristine survey, with a focus on using spectroscopic observations.
Research interests
My research covers various topics within the field of 'Galactic Archaeology'. I study ancient stars to learn about the early history of the Milky Way, as well as to learn about star formation and the origin of the elements in the early Universe. I am an observational astronomer, using large datasets from for example Gaia, WEAVE, 4MOST and the Pristine survey, with a focus on using spectroscopic observations.