I am an astrophysicist at the Department of Physics and the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy of Durham University. Previously, I worked at the Observing Programmes Office of the European Southern Observatory and supported science programmes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory, the flagship facility of European astronomy. Before that, I was FLAMES Instrument Scientist and Deputy Head of the ESO Office for Science in Chile. In my research, I aim at understanding the physical processes that lead to the formation and evolution of galaxies, the building blocks of our universe. I study mostly the structural properties, dynamics, ages and chemical composition of the different stellar components in local galaxies, which hold clues to our understanding of how these massive stellar systems evolved through time and came to be the way we observe them today.