Matthew West, Ph.D.
Visiting Fellow, CAS Research Focus “Mission Space”
European Space Agency – ESA
Geophysics
Matthew West is a scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA), Netherlands.
He is interested in both the small and large-scale solar coronal magnetic field, specifically in the context of how energy can be liberated through solar eruptions, magnetic reconnection and can drive space weather. His long-term goal is to develop new methods to probe previously unmeasurable coronal properties using new observational, theoretical and numerical techniques.
At ESA, he is closely involved in the Vigil mission, ESA’s first operational space-weather mission to be positioned at the Sun–Earth L5 Lagrange point. From this unique vantage point, Vigil will monitor solar activity and the propagation of coronal mass ejections, providing data to improve space weather forecasting and deepen our understanding of solar and heliospheric.
Matthew West is a Visiting Fellow at CAS LMU in October 2026 upon invitation of PD Dr. Elena Kronberg (LMU) in the context of the CAS Research Focus “Mission Space”.
On 21 October 2026 he will give a lecture on “Weather in Space” in the context of the CAS lecture series.
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21 OctSpace Weather – Threats to Our Communication WorldMatthew West, Ph.D. (CAS Fellow/ESA Netherlands) | Chair: PD Dr. Elena Kronberg (CAS Young Center/LMU)
