About
Professor Sarah Brough serves as Head of the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), where she joined in January 2017 as a SHARP hire. She has held significant leadership roles including Research Director (2018-2020 and 2024-2025) and Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in UNSW's Faculty of Science (2020). Internationally, she represents Australia on the European Southern Observatory Council and previously served as the Australian Science Lead for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) from 2018-2024.
Professor Brough is an observational astronomer whose research focuses on galaxy evolution, particularly examining how galaxies change over time and how this evolution depends on their environment. Her work centers on optical observations of nearby galaxies with special interest in the most massive galaxies in the Universe. She has pioneered research into low surface brightness structures such as intracluster light and tidal features, which provide critical insights into galaxy formation histories. Professor Brough led Australia's participation in securing ARC LIEF funding for 235 Australian astronomers to access the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time, which will revolutionize the study of galaxy evolution when it commences in 2025.
Her extensive publication record includes over 293 journal articles examining galaxy evolution, with recent work increasingly focused on preparatory studies for the LSST survey using Hyper-Suprime Cam observations from the Subaru Telescope. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory's LSST will achieve unprecedented depths across the southern sky, revealing low surface brightness features that have previously remained largely unexplored due to their extreme faintness.
Professor Brough's significant contributions to astronomy have been recognized with several prestigious awards:
- Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2015-2020)
- 2019 Dean of Science's Staff Excellence Award for Collaboration and Partnership
- 2019 ARC UNSW Outstanding Research Supervisor Award
As a dedicated mentor and research leader, Professor Brough has supervised numerous students and secured substantial grant funding for astronomical research. She has been a key member of three major Australian-led galaxy surveys and currently leads a research group tackling outstanding questions in galaxy evolution. Her leadership extends to advocacy for diversity in science, having chaired the Astronomical Society of Australia's Inclusion Diversity and Equity in Astronomy Chapter.
