Massive stars: From the VLT to the ELTs

Massive stars play a key role in the dynamical and chemical evolution
of star-forming galaxies, via their intense stellar winds, UV
radiation fields, and explosive deaths. To develop realistic tools to
analyse integrated-light observations of distant galaxies, we first
need to calibrate the models via study of stars closer to home.  To
this end, I will present first results from the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula
Survey, which has obtained multi-epoch spectroscopy of the
massive-star population of 30 Doradus, the richest stellar nursery in
the Local Group. Looking ahead, I will also discuss the exciting
potential of the future Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), which will
enable direct abundance estimates for individual stars in galaxies
across a large volume of the local Universe.