Angel.Lopez-Sanchez


Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

About Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

Dr Ángel R. López-Sánchez is an astrophysicist and science communicator working at the Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Macquarie University (MQ) in Sydney (NSW, Australia). His research is focused in the analysis of star formation phenomena in galaxies of the Local Universe, especially in dwarf starbursts and spiral galaxies, using multi-wavelength (UV, optical, IR, radio) data. He presented his PhD Thesis at University of La Laguna and the Instituto Astrofisica de Canarias (Spain) in 2006. In 2007 he joined CSIRO Astronomy & Space Science (Sydney) with a postdoctoral position. He then joined the AAO (formerly the Australian Astronomical Observatory) and MQ in 2011. In July 2018 he was appointed as Senior Lecturer at AAO-MQ. He has been providing instrument and observing support at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT, Siding Spring Observatory, NSW) since 2011, being the instrument scientist of several instruments: the multi-fiber spectrograph 2dF+AAOmega and the near-infrared imager and spectrograph IRIS2. He also has large experience with integral-field spectroscopy (IFS), being a very active member of the SAMI collaboration at the AAT and part of the HECTOR Science Team. He currently is the Instrument Scientist of KOALA+AAOmega at the AAT, and leads the international astronomy survey "HI KOALA IFS Dwarf and irregular galaxy Survey" (Hi-KIDS), that is getting unique, high-quality IFS data of a sample of 100 nearby dwarf and irregular galaxies for which 21cm H I interferometric data is available He has large experience teaching undergraduate and PhD students and giving lectures and classes about Astronomy. Dr. López-Sánchez is passionate science communicator who continuously gives talks and public lectures, writes popular science articles and organizes science communication events and stargazing activities. He is very active in social media, his Twitter feed is @El_Lobo_Rayado.

Yesterday I was invited to represent SRAP and Macquarie University in an event for International Women Day 2023 at the General Consulate of Argentina in Sydney. It was in a joint event with Instituto Cervantes Sydney and the General Consulate of Spain in Sydney. They had a panel discussion with Sydney-based Argentinian […]

Event for International Women Day at Argentina Consulate


The 8th Australia-Spain Research Forum entitled “A Digital World“ was hosted at the Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University (Sydney, NSW) on Friday 25th of November 2022. The full recording of the event is available in our YouTube channel: Below some photos of the event (full description and details will be added […]

Summary of the 8th SRAP Research Forum


During this week I have participated, as SRAP President, in several events and meetings in Canberra and Sydney following the official visit of the Spanish Minister of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, to Australia. First of all, I’d like to thank the staff at the Spanish Embassy in Canberra, particularly the […]

SRAP participates in events and work meetings with the Minister ...



One of my favourites stories in my blog is “Seasons: Astronomy vs. Australia” that I published exactly 8 years ago, on the 1st September 2014. In this post I described how seasons are defined using Astronomy using equinoxes and solstices. And that I was very surprised to see that in […]

Seasons in Australia, why don’t they follow the astronomical definition?


(Post only available in Spanish) Nuestra socia, Assoc. Prof. Marian Vidal-Fernández (Universidad de Sídney), ha sido entrevistada hoy en radio SBS en español para dar su opinión sobre la falta de profesores en Australia. Puedes escuchar la entrevista completa en la web de SBS radio en español.    

Interview to SRAP member Marian Vidal-Fernández in radio SBS in ...


Our member, Prof. Javier Álvarez-Mon (Professor in Near Eastern Archaeology and Art, Macquarie University) has recently published an article in the Journal of the Iran National Museum entitled: Between Picasso and Piradi On tour with Saltimbanques and Musicians from ancient Iran (c. 600 Bc). This article offers a new line drawing and […]

The world’s first professional acrobats were flipping through the Middle ...



At the beginning of April 2022, the Australian Government released a statement detailing the strategic areas to invest in research with international collaborators, also promoting scientific diplomacy with those countries. In particular, four strategic research fields are identified. Every field has four strategic countries: Advanced Manufacturing Hydrogen Production Artificial Intelligence […]

The Australian Government identifies Spain as strategic country for research ...


The first conference between Australian and Spanish universities, “Building Bridges between the Australian and Spanish University systems”, that was held on Monday 30th May as an hybrid (in-person + online) event and jointly organised by SRAP, Instituto Cervantes Sydney, Macquarie University, and the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) has been […]

Success of the 1st Conference between Australian and Spanish Universities


The Final Report of the 2021 SRAP Research Forum “A collaborative world” has been released. You can get it in PDF format (file size: 13.4 Mb). This report complements the Booklet of the 2021 SRAP Research Forum (PDF format, file size 5 Mb), the includes the abstracts of all the contributions […]

Final report of the 2021 SRAP Research Forum



(Post only available in Spanish) A finales de enero la comisión de RAICEX de Política Científica y Atracción de Talento, que actualmente es liderada por la investigadora Judit Jímenez (ECUSA) y en la que participan los socios de SRAP Prof. Luis Salvador-Carulla y Dr. Ángel López-Sánchez (presidente de SRAP), envió […]

RAICEX consigue el reconocimiento de investigadores en el extranjero en ...


(Post only available in Spanish) Nuestros presidentes honorarios, Prof. Luis Salvador-Carulla (Universidad de Canberra) y Assoc. Prof. Sergio León-Saval (Universidad de Sídney), junto con nuestro presidente actual, Dr. Ángel López-Sánchez (Macquarie University), miembros de la comisión de Política Científica y Atracción de Talento de RAICEX, han participado en la la […]

RAICEX comments to modifications to the Spanish “Ley de la ...


The 7th Australia-Spain Research Forum  “A Collaborative World“ hosted today, Friday 26th November 2021, at the Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, has been a success. We have had a total of 49 people attending in person, plus around 50 people attended on-line. The Forum started at 10am with registration and […]

Success of the 2021 Australia-Spain Research Forum



During the last few weeks SRAP has collaborated with Casa Asia and Fundación Consejo España Australia to promote the work of Spanish researchers in Australia-Pacific and inform about the Australian research and academic system to Spanish researchers who might be interested on developing part of their work in Australia. This collaboration was […]

Research in Australia: Webinar and interviews with Casa Asia and ...


Today our member from SRAP in New Zealand, Marta Ribó received the Early Career Research Award of School of Environment, The University of Auckland. Dr Ribó is a marine geologist who has conducted a 2-year research project on sediment dynamics and human impacts in the Queen Charlotte Sound region, in […]

Marta Ribó receives Early Career Research Award


Dr Alfredo Herrero de Haro, Senior Lecturer, Spanish, University of Wollongong and SRAP member, was interviewed on the Spanish radio program “Investigadores por el Mundo“. Listen the interview “Identificar los sonidos omitidos” on Libertad FM. The interview is in Spanish and it is also available in iVoox.  

Interview to Dr. Alfredo Herrero de Haro on Libertad FM



We are very proud to announce that our 7th Australia-Spain Research Forum “A collaborative world” will be held at the Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University (Sydney, NSW) on Friday 26th November 2021, and online. All the information in the 7th Australia-Spain Research Forum “A collaborative world” website. Attending the 2021 Australia-Spain […]

Announcement of the 7th Australia-Spain Research Forum “A collaborative world”


Our member Dr Cristina Martínez-Lombilla (UNSW) has been interviewed in the UNSW Women in Maths and Science Champions Program Blog. Cristina is a postdoctoral researcher investigating how galaxies form and evolve. Cristina is an advocate for diversity, is involved in world-wide research collaborations and co-founded a workshop to teach programming in […]

Interview to Cristina Martínez-Lombilla in UNSW Science


Our SRAP Honorary President, Associate Professor Sergio León-Saval (Director, Sydney Astrophotonic Instrumentation Laboratory, University of Sydney), has been invited to write a special article in the science journal “Optics Journal” about his experiences as SRAP President between 2016 and 2019.

Sergio León-Saval reflects about his SRAP Presidency in Optics Journal



Our member, Associate Professor Adriana Verges (UNSW), is a finalist for the prestigious Eureka Prizes 2021 in the category “Celestino Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Science“. Adriana says: As an ecologist, I feel that science communication and engaging with the general public has never been more important. Although our […]

Adriana Verges finalist for the Eureka Prizes 2021


Today, Thursday 19th August, we have had the 3rd online #scicomm event that SRAP-IEAP is organising in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes de Sídney for Australia’s National Science Week 2021. In this case it was a trip to the Universe! The host was our member, the astrophysicist and science communicator Dr. Ángel R. López-Sánchez […]

Online conference: Galaxies and stars




Dr José Barrero works as a Team Leader at CSIRO Agriculture and Food in Canberra (Australia) and is a SRAP-IEAP member. Jose’s team has developed a transgenic cowpea (also known as black eye pea) variety that is fully resistant to the insect Maruca vitrata. This legume is a key staple food in […]

Food security and transgenic crops: from the laboratory to the ...



Our member, the astrophysicist and science communicator  Ángel López-Sánchez (Australian Astronomical Optics, Macquarie University), has been interviewed today in the radio show  Spanish Sunday 4EB by Álvaro Sánchez y Raquel Sánchez. In this interview in Spanish, that lasts for almost a full hour, Ángel describes his professional career, his current job, and answers […]

Entrevista a Ángel López-Sánchez en Spanish Sunday 4EB