2025 –
Senior Commissioning Scientist for SKA-Mid
Square Kilometre Array Observatory, UK
Hello
I am a radio astronomer with experience in calibration, high-dynamic-range imaging, telescope commissioning and survey science. I have made major contributions to the early scientific exploitation of cutting-edge radio telescopes including MeerKAT and ASKAP.
I develop novel methods and tools to help researchers rapidly turn large-scale interferometric observations into reliable scientific results. I work closely with many students and early-career colleagues, particularly within South Africa's radio astronomy community.
You can contact me via email at ian.heywood@skao.int.
A list of my publications on the ADS can be found here. My GitHub pages can be found here.
Thanks for visiting.
Presently
2025 –
Honorary Professor in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Faculty of Science and Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK
2025 –
Academic Visitor
Department of Physics, The University of Oxford, UK
2024 –
Research Associate in Astrophysics
Green Templeton College, The University of Oxford, UK
2019 –
Distinguished Research Fellow
South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), South Africa
2018 –
Visiting Professor
Department of Physics and Electronics, Rhodes University, South Africa
Previously
2019 – 2025
Senior Researcher in Radio Astronomy
Department of Physics, The University of Oxford, UK
2017 – 2019
Hintze Fellow
Department of Physics, The University of Oxford, UK
2016 – 2017
Facilities Program Director for Astrophysics ('Head of Astrophysics')
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Australia
2013 – 2017
Senior Research Scientist
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Australia
2004 – 2013
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Department of Physics, The University of Oxford, UK
2000 – 2004
PhD in Astrophysics
Jodrell Bank Observatory, The University of Manchester, UK
Selected work
My work revolves around the technical aspects of radio interferometry, particularly in devising new accelerated and automated methods for processing and imaging the huge volumes of data that modern radio instrumentation produces. I have focused almost exclusively on this technique, and that has naturally led to a broad range of astrophysical research interests.
Extragalactic radio surveys
I have led the observational planning and production of science-ready continuum [1,2,3] and spectral-line [4] data products for several large-scale extragalactic radio surveys, primarily using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, ASKAP and MeerKAT. I publicly released and continue to support the data-processing pipeline [5] that I designed for MeerKAT's MIGHTEE survey, which has since been used to process many hundreds of MeerKAT observations.
The Galactic Centre
I was responsible for the design, data processing and publication of the MeerKAT legacy survey of the Galactic Centre, which provided an unprecedented radio view of this key region. Early observations revealed a 1,400 light year tall bipolar structure, providing evidence for an energetic outburst in the region several million years ago, and resulted in the first scientific publication from the full 64-antenna MeerKAT array [1]. The completed survey [2] increased the number of known non-thermal radio filaments around the Galactic Centre by an order of magnitude, and the resulting panoramic image received widespread international media coverage [3,4].
Time domain imaging
The discovery space that is unlocked by time series imaging has been historically somewhat overlooked. I have been working on this method for the last few years. Highlights from this work include the discovery of a new millisecond pulsar (initially a candidate, now confirmed) in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae [1], the discovery of an unusually slow radio pulsar with a 76 second period [2], the discovery of what is only the second known white dwarf pulsar system [3], and the verification of the commensal Breakthrough Listen SETI backend on the MeerKAT telescope by imaging the James Webb Space Telescope via emissions from its S-band telemetry downlink transmitter [4]. This research has culminated in the TRON project which I co-lead, which is now systematically and automatically mining the entire MeerKAT archive for transient and anomalous phenomena.
Telescope commissioning
I have played a leading technical role in commissioning three of the world's foremost radio interferometers: ASKAP, MeerKAT and currently SKA-Mid. Commissioning involves verifying a telescope's performance against its design specifications and diagnosing the technical effects that limit it, largely through on-sky observations. It's kind of analogous to sea trials for a boat. During ASKAP's commissioning I devised methods to probe the shapes of its multiple electronically-formed beams, and quantified the sensitivity penalty caused by beam-to-beam noise correlation. I identified direction-dependent effects caused by beam-to-beam differences between antennas as the principal limit on imaging dynamic range, and developed a calibration approach to mitigate it. I have worked with the MeerKAT project since its early KAT-7 prototype through to verifying the on-sky performance of the full 64-dish array ahead of its large scale survey commitments. I am currently Senior Commissioning Scientist for SKA-Mid, validating the interferometer's performance against its scientific requirements in close collaboration with its construction, engineering and science teams.