In the spotlight: Manu Antony
Published 31 July 2026
Dr Manu Antony is a Senior Research Software Engineer based at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Manu Antony is a Senior Research Software Engineer based at the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh. Here he tells us about his work on the LSST and the opportunity to work with large-scale data.
Summarise the aim of your work in the LSST:UK team.
My work involves science data handling and improving processes.
What excites you most about the Rubin LSST?
The scale of astronomy data to work with and the opportunity to come up with technical solutions to problem.
What motivates you?
The satisfaction of knowing I can solve real-world complex problems
Give us a surprising fact!
Despite the massive amount of digital information humanity generates daily, less than 0.5% of all data created is ever actually analysed or used.
What’s the most challenging thing about working on the LSST?
The scale!
What's the best thing you've learned while working on LSST:UK?
How to deal with complex architecture and process.
How did you get into your field?
I first worked in peta scale cloud computing, working with petascale images.
What’s your favourite thing about working in your field?
There always more data!
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working
Experimenting with on machine learning using my homelab.
What's your advice for anyone aspiring to do the kind of work you do?
Keeping an open mind; it will go a long way in helping you learn about both people and machines.