Hi, I'm Toby Brown.
I’m an astronomer at the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre in Victoria, BC. My research investigates the interstellar medium, star formation, and environmental mechanisms, and how they relate to the formation and evolution of galaxies.
I specialize in analyzing very large multi-wavelength datasets from some of the world's most advanced telescopes. On the technical side, I guide the development of cutting-edge digital infrastructure for astronomy, with the goal of making making fundamental research more efficient and accessible for all.
If you are a prospective student or postdoc excited about these topics, I encourage you to get in touch—I’d love to hear from you!
Current Research
The VERTICO Survey (Brown et al. 2021) is an ALM Large Program that has mapped the molecular gas, as the raw fuel for star formation, in 51 Virgo Cluster galaxies with the aim of revealing the effects of environment on galaxies' gas content in unprecedented detail.
MAUVE is a large program using the MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope. This project uses incredible data to understand the influence of the environment on the gas-star formation cycle of cluster galaxies during their infall.
Research at Herzberg
At the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, we conduct world-class research across a broad range of astrophysics. We have access to current and future premier facilities like SKA, CHORD, ALMA, Rubin Observatory, Gemini Observatory, Canada France Hawaii Telescope, and state-of-the-art labs. I am also part of the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre at Herzberg which provides world-leading data services and cloud computing.
We offer four regular postdoctoral fellowship programs, including the Plaskett Fellowship, Covington Fellowship, and Instrument Science Fellowship. Additionally, the NRC runs an annual open postdoctoral program.
My research regularly generates opportunities and projects for graduate students as well as a chance to collaborate with leading astronomers around the world. If you’re a prospective graduate student interested in related research areas, I strongly encourage you to apply to the University of Victoria's Astronomy program.
For postdoctoral researchers who share the interests above, I’m always open to discussing fellowship proposals, and I recommend considering the postdoctoral positions at Herzberg and NRC.
I am the Lead Project Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array Regional Centre Network (SRCNet), a massive international effort to design, develop and operate a distributed interoperable network of regional centres to support the science exploitation of the SKA data.
I also guide the development of the Canadian SKA Regional Centre, working to provide Canadian and international users with access to the SKA data. The establishment of this centre requires computing, network and storage infrastructure services two orders of magnitude more powerful than those currently existing in Canada.