Outreach | Ryan Ridden

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Dr. Ryan Ridden

Science explainers, public lectures, and live streams — subscribe on YouTube.

Public Talks

Beatrice Hill Tinsley Lecture Series Astronomical Societies across Aotearoa New Zealand • 2023 12 public lectures touring astronomical societies throughout New Zealand as the 2023 Beatrice Hill Tinsley Lecturer — a prestigious annual lectureship honouring the late New Zealand astrophysicist.
Stardate — Invited Speaker Canterbury Astronomical Society • 2025 Invited public lecture for the Canterbury Astronomical Society's Stardate event.
Matariki Festival — Invited Speaker Christchurch Arts Centre • 2025 Invited speaker at the Christchurch Arts Centre's Matariki festival celebration.
100+ Lectures to Schools & Clubs Aotearoa New Zealand • 2012–Present Over a decade of tailored lectures to school groups and community clubs on a wide range of scientific topics, with consistently positive feedback.

Schools & Community

Adopt A Scientist Mentor Lincoln High School • 2025 Mentoring students through the Adopt A Scientist programme, connecting secondary school students directly with working researchers.
Matariki Open Day — Lead Organiser Ōtehīwai | Mt John Observatory, Takapō • 2022–2024 Lead organiser of the annual Matariki open day at Mt John Observatory, bringing the public and local Māori communities together to celebrate the Māori New Year under the stars.
UC Alumni Events — Presenter & Guide Ōtehīwai | Mt John Observatory • 2022–Present Presenter and guide for University of Canterbury alumni events held at Mt John Observatory, showcasing current research and facilities.

Press & Media

New Scientist — Cover Story New Scientist • March 2025 Featured interview for the March 2025 cover story on new cosmology results challenging the standard model, based on the student-led paper Seifert et al. 2024 (Lane, Seifert, Ridden-Harper et al.).
Quirks & Quarks — Radio Interview Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) • 2025 Interview on the new cosmology results from Lane, Seifert et al. 2024 for CBC's flagship science radio programme Quirks & Quarks.
Marsden in Focus — Article Royal Society Te Apārangi • 2025 Written piece for the Royal Society's "Marsden in Focus" series on the Cosmic Cataclysms research project funded by the Rutherford Postdoctoral Fellowship.
NewsHub & TVNZ — DART Mission NewsHub / TVNZ • 2022 Interviewed by both NewsHub and TVNZ on the success of NASA's DART asteroid deflection mission, to which Mt John Observatory contributed post-impact observations.
IFL Science & Channel 7 IFL Science / Channel 7 (Australia) • 2019 Interviews on the discovery of a new WZ Sagittae-type cataclysmic variable in Kepler/K2 data (Ridden-Harper et al. 2019).

Academic

Starkiller: Satellite Spectra from MUSE IAU-CPS Seminar Series • 2025 (Invited) Invited talk on subtracting and understanding satellite contamination in MUSE IFU data for the International Astronomical Union Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky.
TESSreduce 2.0: Calibrated PSF Photometry from TESS TESS Science Conference III • 2024 Presenting TESSreduce 2.0's new capabilities for extracting high-quality, flux-calibrated PSF photometry from TESS data.
Cosmic Cataclysms: TESS Transient Survey TESS Science Conference III • 2024 (Invited) Invited overview of the Cosmic Cataclysms collaboration and its programme of untargeted transient searches in TESS data.
The Rubin–Ōtehīwai Co-Survey LSST TVS Seminar • 2021 Presenting a proposal for a co-survey between the Rubin Observatory LSST and Mt John Observatory to maximise transient science from Aotearoa New Zealand.
TESSreduce: TESS Transient Pipeline TESS Sci Con II & 237th AAS Meeting • 2021 Poster presentations of the TESSreduce pipeline at the TESS Science Conference II and the 237th American Astronomical Society meeting.
New Transients in Kepler/K2 Data 233rd AAS Meeting • 2019 Talk presenting early results from the search for undiscovered transients in archival Kepler and K2 data.