Pratika Dayal
Life History
I was born on 24th January 1984 in the beautiful city of Chandigarh in India. By the time I was 20, I'd had the luxury of living in about 18 different cities in India and France due to dad's job in the Indian Air Force. This brownian life has continued and I have lived in breathtaking beautiful places like Brighton, Trieste, Berlin, Edinburgh and Durham over the past 10 years.
My earliest career choice (at the age of 10) was Archaeology - but I (irreversibly) fell in love with Physics at the age of 14 and ended up doing "the Archaeology of the Universe"!
Work History & awards
2017 : NWO VIDI grant laureate (ODIN; 800K Euros)
2017 : Young scientist medal awarded by the International Union of Pure &
Applied Physics
2016 : ERC Starting grant laureate (DELPHI; 1.5m Euros)
2016 - : Rosalind Franklin fellow & Assistant Professor, Kapteyn Institute, Groningen
2015 - 2016 : Addison Wheeler Fellow, Institute of computational Cosmology
(ICC), Durham University, U.K.
2011 - 2015 : Postdoctoral Fellow, Insitute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, U.K.
2010 - 2011 : Postdoctoral Fellow, Leibniz Insitute for Astrophysics, Potsdam, Germany
2010 : Marie Curie visiting researcher, ICC, Durham University, U.K.
2006 - 2010 : PhD student, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy
2005 - 2006 : INLAKS & Chancellor's fellow in MS, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K.
Supervision
I have had the pleasure and privilege of supervising a number of bright young researchers:
PhD students
2018 - 2022: Mr. Laurent Legrand at the Kapteyn Institute (primary supervisor)
2018 - 2022: Mr. Ruslan Brilenkov at the Kapteyn Institute (primary supervisor)
2017 - 2021: Mr. Jonas Bremer at the Kapteyn Institute (primary supervisor)
2017 - 2021: Mr. Olmo Piana at the Kapteyn Institute (primary supervisor)
2017 - 2021: Mr. Smaran Deshmukh at the Kapteyn Institute (secondary supervisor)
2016 - 2020: Ms. Punyakoti Veena at the Kapteyn Institute (secondary supervisor)
2011 - 2015: Dr. Anne Hutter at the Leibniz Institute of Astrophysics, Potsdam
2010 - 2014: Dr. Livia Vallini at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy
Masters students
2018: Ms. Nikki Arendse, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, Netherlands
2018: Ms. Marenthe Hopma, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, Netherlands
2018: Mr. Jonas Bremer, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, Netherlands
2018: Mr. Folkert Nobels, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, Netherlands
Undergraduate students
2016: Ms. Roza Wadowska from the University of Warsaw, Poland
2014: Ms. Helene Robinson from Edinburgh University, U.K.
2013: Ms. Susan Wright from Cambridge University, U.K.
Teaching
2016-18: "Galaxy formation and Evolution" core Master's course, University of
Groningen
2016-18: "Quantum Universe seminar" core Master's course, University of Groningen
2015 : Ran first year undergraduate Physics "discovery" laboratories at Durham
University
2014 : Core-team member for a new course on "Introduction to Astrophysics" at
Edinburgh University
I have also helped formulate a COURSERA MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) called "AstroTech" - this course is running again in 2015!
Talks
Since 2008, I have had the pleasure of delivering a total of 104 talks (63 invited, 41 contributed) all over the globe! Some conference reviews/invited talks are listed below.
26. Computational astrophysics for next generation super-computers, Kobe (Japan), 12 October, 2018 (workshop talk)
25. LSS2LSS workshop, Institut d'astrophysics Spatiale (Orsay), 19 July, 2018 (review)
24. Information Universe conference, Groningen, The Netherlands, 5 July, 2018
(conference talk)
23. EWASS2018 symposium on galaxy symposium, 4 April, 2018 (mini review)
22. Next generation cosmology with next generation radio telescopes, Sesto, Italy, 7 March
2018 (meeting talk)
21. Netherlands Euclid Day, Groningen, The Netherlands, 9 Feb 2018 (workshop talk)
20. 29th Texas symposium, Cape Town, South Africa, 8 December 2017 (plenary prize talk)
19. UK National Astronomy Meeting, Hull, U.K., 6 July 2017 (review)
18. Growth of galaxies in the early Universe, Sesto, 20 January, 2017 conference talk)
17. Signals from the deep past, Valletta, Malta, 20 July 2016 (invited review)
16. MIAPP workshop on cosmic reionization, Munich, Germany, 15 April 2016 (invited talk)
15. National Astronomy meeting, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 15 January 2016 (invited talk)
14. Physics of cosmic dawn in SKA era, Sesto, Italy, 19 January 2016 (Invited review)
13. Preparing for 21cm revolution, Irvine, U.S.A, 1 October 2015 (invited review)
12. PACIFIC 2015, Moorea, Tahiti, 14 September 2015 (invited talk)
11. Marcel Grossmann Meeting 2015, Rome, Italy, 16 July 2015 (invited talk)
10. EWASS session on mass-metallicity, Tenerife, Spain, 25 June 2015 (invited review)
9. EWASS session on early galaxies, Tenerife, Spain, 26 June 2015 (invited review)
8. National Astronomy Meeting, St Andrews, U.K., 2013 (invited talk)
7. Cosmic Dawn workshop, Ringberg, Germany, 2013 (invited talk)
6. Star formation through cosmic times, Sesto, Italy, 2013 (invited talk)
5. European Astronomy Week, Rome, Italy, 2012 (invited review)
4. Metals in Tuscany, Spineto, Italy, 18 June 2012 (invited talk)
3. CLUES meeting, Sussex University, U.K., 2011 (invited talk)
2. ComsoFirstObjects workshop, Marseille, France, 2011 (invited talk)
1. CLUES meeting, Madrid, Spain, 2010 (invited talk)
In addition, I have been invited to deliver departmental seminars/colloquia at :
2018: ASTRON, Portsmouth, Tokyo tech, IPMU, ZARM (Bremen), Observatory of Marseille,
Observatory of Strasbourg, Leibniz Institute (Potsdam), Scuola Normale (Pisa)
2017: Leiden observatory, University of Hull, Universities of western Cape, Cape Town &
Witwatersrand
2016: Universities of Manchester, Amsterdam, Utrecht & Nijmegen, SRON
2015: Universities of Warwick & Leicester, Kapteyn Institute
2014: Geneva Observatory, Bristol university, Kapteyn Institute, IAP (Paris)
2013: Universities of Nottingham, Cambridge & Portsmouth, Imperial college, Trieste
observatory
Pre2013: Albanova (Stockholm), Sussex, Rome observatory, University of Central Lancashire, National Astronomical Observatory at Mitaka (Japan) and Center for Astronomy at Johannesburg (South Africa)
Outreach
Disseminating science to the wider audience is an integral part of being a professional astronomer. Some of my most memorable moments have been discussing science with children who's list of "whys" never end! Some outreach events include:
12. Lecture to FMF student association, Groningen (2018) 11. Lecturer for National Stargazing day, Groningen (2018) 10. Talk on Dark Matter at the DOT, Groningen (2018) 9. Founding member and chair outreach committee, Young Academy of Groningen
8. Volunteer for "national stargazing day" at the University of Groningen (2016)
7. Volunteer at IoP "Year of light" exhibit, Durham University (2015)
6. Lecture as part of Project Shona pilot weekend (2015)
5. Public lecture to the Sunderland Astronomical Society (2015)
4. STFC roadshow ``Seeing the Universe in all its light", Edinburgh 2014
3. Lecturer for Winter Outreach Series at the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh (2013,
2014)
2. Open day organiser at the Institute for Astronomy in Edinburgh (U.K.; 2011 & 2012), at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (Germany; 2010 & 2011) and at the Trieste Science festivals (Italy; 2007-2010)
1. Represented the Institute for Computational Cosmology (Durham University) at the Royal Society Summer Exhibit (2010)
Affiliations
- I am co-leading the SKA Epoch of Reionization synergy focus group
- I have been an affiliate researcher at the Institute for Space Sciences and Astronomy,
University of Malta since 2016
- I am a founding member of the Young Academy at Groningen, set up to promote
interdisciplinary research
- I am an associate researcher at the exciting 4C research group at the Scuola
Normale Superiore.
- I am a member of the DAVID (Dark Ages VIrtual Department) collaboration composed
of an exceptional group of researchers who meet in the wonderfully lovely city of Pisa every year to push the frontiers of Science!