About me

Hello and welcome! I am a research scientist with a passion for computationally driven solutions to complex problems. During most of my career, I have applied this passion to research-level physics, with a particular focus on astrophysics and geophysics, but I’m always open to the challenge of a new topic. Most recently, I have been working in the medical industry, researching novel ways to understand mental, psychosocial and psychosomatic stress and disease through AI-based methods (specifically, through large language models (LLMs)).

I earned my PhD in Physics with Special Qualification in Astronomy from the University of Bern, Switzerland under the supervision of Dr Martin Jutzi. Prior to this, I earned my master’s degree in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Sheffield, UK with a year as an exchange student at Monash University, Australia. My academic research has been published, or is in currently under review, in respected journals such as Nature Astronomy, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), Icarus and Geophysical Research Letters, among other outlets. The research topic during my PhD and subsequent postdoctoral research position is summarised well by the title of my thesis, “Planetary-Scale Impacts and their Geophysical Consequences”. In short, that means smashing planets together using smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations and estimating what happens over billion year timescales. More specifically, I studied impact-related hypotheses for the origin of the crustal dichotomy of Mars and the Sputnik Planitia region of Pluto. During my master’s degree, I analysed the results of N-body simulations to explore the stability of planets in binary star systems, under the supervision of Dr Richard Parker. Beyond research, I have found great pride in teaching students the wonders of maths and physics, which also led to me discovering my own passion for the immense power of statistics.

Outside of my academic endeavours, I have always had a great passion for music, and enjoy travel, hiking and the occasional attempt at skiing.