Stars form out of the accumulation of gas and dust in the interstellar medium. During their lives, stars may interact with eachother through gravitation. Especially in the final stages of their evolution, stars also act upon the surrounding space by their radiation field and mass outflow. From these interactions between stars and their environment we do not only learn a lot about the astrophysics of stars (their evolution and mass loss) but also about the cycle of Life and Death, the chemical enrichment of the gas and dust, the stars and planets that are born out of it, and the structure and evolution of the galaxies in which they live. These processes can be brought together under the title "Stellar Ecology". But i'm also exploring other types of Physics that bears on the evolution of galaxies...

Galaxies behind the Magellanic Clouds (in particular extreme AGN)

Mass loss and evolution of massive stars, supernovae, and supernova remnants

Pulsating red giants in the M33 spiral galaxy: tracers of galaxy evolution

Structure and dynamics of the interstellar medium

Structure and dynamics of the Magellanic Clouds

Star formation in the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds

Stellar mass loss in low metallicity environments (incl. globular clusters)

Extragalactic stellar OH maser surveys with the SKA

Dust and molecule formation in evolved stars and supernova progenitors

Betelgeuse and (other) red supergiants

Circumstellar masers in the Magellanic Clouds

Chemical evolution of star clusters

The effects of red supergiant mass loss on supernova ejecta and the circumburst medium

The connection between mass loss and nucleosynthesis

Observational constraints on AGB mass loss and its effect on AGB evolution

Historic mass loss from the RS Ophiuchi system

On determining the mass-loss rates of red giants and red supergiants based on infrared data

On the metallicity dependence of the winds from red supergiants and Asymptotic Giant Branch stars

A three-dimensional map of the hot Local Bubble using diffuse interstellar bands (Nature, 2019)

A modest-mass early-type galaxy hosting an oversized nuclear black hole (2015)

The Tarantula Nebula seen through diffuse interstellar bands and neutral sodium (2013)

Dust and shocks in supernova 1987A (Science, a series of Letters: 1, 2, 3, 4) (2011-2014)

Variable stars, star formation history and dust production in M33 (2011, 2013)

A Spitzer far-IR spectral atlas of compact sources in the Magellanic Clouds (2010)

Small-scale structures in the Galactic Disc-Halo interface (2009)

A peculiar HI cloud near the distant globular cluster Pal 4 (2009)

Molecules and dust production in the Magellanic Clouds (2008)

Spitzer constraints on mass loss in the metal-rich cluster NGC 6791 (2008)

A Spitzer infrared atlas of omega Centauri (2008)

A spectral atlas of post-main sequence evolution in omega Centauri (2007)

The role of dust, pulsation and chromospheres in driving mass loss (2007)

First 10-micron spectra of dusty red giants in a globular cluster: 47 Tucanae (2006)

Discovery of neutral hydrogen gas in a globular cluster: M 15 (2006)

The molecular atmospheres of dust-enshrouded carbon stars in the LMC (2006)

Spitzer spectra of ices around a massive YSO in the LMC (2005)

Dust-enshrouded stars in clusters in the Magellanic Clouds (2005)

The superwind mass-loss rate as a function of temperature and luminosity (2005)

New wind velocity measurements for magellanic OH/IR stars (2004)

Discovery of a dust cloud next to sigma Orionis (2003)