OpenLearn Profile

Stuart is a Post Doctoral Research Associate.

Professional biography

Stuart joined The Open University in 2018 as a postdoctoral research associate, funded by the UK Space Agency to research fluid-rock interactions on Mars. Prior to that he completed a PhD titled ‘Novel X-ray Diffraction and the Remote Analysis of Mars’ in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester, and remained there as a Research Assistant for a period before joining The Open University.

Research interests

Stuart is a planetary scientist, specialising in the analysis of data returned by martian rovers and orbiters. He combines these results with thermochemical modelling and laboratory experiments to explore the aqueous alteration history of Mars. He is a collaborator on the NASA Mars Science Laboratory Science Team, in which he investigates the thermochemical interactions that produced the alteration mineral assemblages observed by the Curiosity rover in Gale crater, Mars. He also uses orbital datasets to research the alteration mineralogy observed at Oxia Planum, where the ESA ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover is scheduled to land and explore in 2023. Stuart has been involved in numerous ExoMars-like rover field trials and is also a member of the science team for the PanCam instrument on the Rosalind Franklin rover.

Teaching interests

Since joining The Open University, Stuart has supported the delivery of the OpenSTEM lab Mars rover simulation mission group project for the masters level S818 Space Science course. During his time as a PhD student and Research Assistant at the University of Leicester he taught undergraduates, including supervising X-ray diffraction and fluorescence experiments, facilitating astrodynamics workshops and creating online digital assessment materials for STEM foundation year students.