The University of Oxford is a world-class research institution. Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics (AOPP), a sub-department of the Department of Physics, has been involved in atmospheric remote sounding research for over 40 years, first focusing on the Earth's atmosphere and then those of other planets. The department's research covers three areas: (1) scientific instrument design & construction, (2) data analysis, and (3) supporting modelling and theory. Hardware built in Oxford has now been flown on planetary missions including Mars Observer, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Galileo, and Cassini. In addition to scientific exploitation from these missions, a wealth of technical expertise ranging from hardware development to operations planning, data management and analysis has been accrued at AOPP. Oxford will use its unique expertise in planetary research and its skilled personnel to support the proposed contribution.

Dr. Colin Wilson is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. He has been participating in the Venus Express mission since 2003 and since March 2009 he has been the Science Operations Co-ordinator for the Venus Express mission. In this role he is responsible for preparation of the Science Activity Plan for the mission and for planning of observations which are co-ordinated with ground-based observers. He works closely with ESA's Planetary Science Archive (PSA) staff responsible for Venus Express data. The focus of his scientific work has been on studying microphysical properties, chemistry and dynamics of the cloud deck, and has authored or co-authored eight peer-reviewed publications and numerous conference presentations based on Venus Express data.