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Ashley Crouch

Canadian Government Laboratory Visiting Fellow
Canadian Space Agency

Bachelor of Science (Honours)
Areas of study: Mathematics and Astrophysics

PhD in theoretical solar physics

"The exposure to new knowledge and ideas is great."

Ashley Crouch

After I completed my PhD I took up a postdoctoral position in Montreal, Canada. During that post I was given the opportunity to continue the work I had done for my thesis, as well as branching out into new areas of solar physics. These areas include modelling the Sun's radiative output or brightness, and modelling how the turbulent convection in the Sun's outer layer interacts with its magnetic field. During that time the opportunity arose to take up a position at the space agency, which is also in Montreal.

So basically I am responsible for studying various aspects of the Sun and in particular trying to understand solar magnetism.

The thing I enjoy most about my job is collaborating with other scientists and sharing ideas and teaching each other new things. The exposure to new knowledge and ideas is great and finding new ways to model or understand physical phenomena is rewarding.

The travelling is nice too, both for conferences and for the job itself. Living in Montreal has been great. Being your own boss is another plus. If there is something I find interesting, I am free to pursue it and try to make a contribution to the knowledge base in that area of solar physics.

At Monash I was able to try a bunch of very different topics within mathematics and astrophysics. I enjoyed all of them a lot, but I was able to get a feel for which one(s) best suited me which was a great help. I am glad I was able to experience many different things. Since I left Monash I have specialised somewhat in that I study the Sun primarily, but I have tried to explore new things and different ways of doing scientific research within solar physics.

Another big influence is the thesis work I did at Monash. The thesis provided me with some momentum so I have continued to work on it since I left. I still collaborate with my thesis supervisor and his student.