Outreach
Sharing the Universe
I love talking about black holes, the night sky and the mysteries of the Universe with anyone who will listen. Since 2011 I have given public talks to more than 3,500 students, visited schools around the world, and written about science, space and travel.
Talks in schools, camps and for the public
Bringing astronomy to classrooms, camps and public audiences, often far from big observatories.
Talk and discussion on “The Mysteries of the Universe” with students and teachers at ONGC, Dehradun (2016).
“The Universe” for high-school students at a rural school in Sibsagar, Assam (2015).
“The Invisible Universe: Black Holes, Dark Matter and Dark Energy”, a talk at a girls’ school in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, with the MBRAS Scientists in Residence programme (2023).
“The Invisible Universe: Black Holes, Dark Matter and Dark Energy”, a talk at a girls’ school in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, with the MBRAS Scientists in Residence programme (2023).
Inaugural lecture at the annual NYU Abu Dhabi Astronomy Camp (2021, 2022).
Invited seminar at Jagannath Barooah College, Assam (2022).
Invited online seminar for Independent University, Bangladesh (2020).
Speaking with students of Shankardev Shishu Niketan, Sibsagar, about Astromundus and astrophysics (2013).
Question-and-answer session on astronomy with students and the public at the 30th Guwahati Book Fair, Assam (2017).
Newspaper coverage, in English and Assamese, of outreach talks in Dehradun and Guwahati.
Newspaper coverage, in English and Assamese, of outreach talks in Dehradun and Guwahati.
Newspaper coverage, in English and Assamese, of outreach talks in Dehradun and Guwahati.
Talk and questions with primary and secondary school students on “The solar system and beyond”, Shantipur Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Assam (2014).
- 2011–Public talks on astrophysics reaching more than 3,500 students in India
- 2023–2025School talks across the UAE through the Scientists in Residence programme of MBRAS, the UAE Academy of Scientists
- 2021–2023Lecturer, annual NYU Abu Dhabi Astronomy Camps for students across the UAE
- 2017–2023Guided NYU Abu Dhabi students on astronomy trips to the Sharjah Planetarium
- 2022Women in STEM talk for a student club of Girl Up, a United Nations Foundation initiative
- 2022Invited seminar, Department of Physics, Jagannath Barooah College, Assam
- 2021“History of Astronomy”, Sheikh Zayed Academy for Girls, Abu Dhabi
- 2020Invited online seminar on black hole disc–jet coupling, Astronomy Research Group, Independent University, Bangladesh
- 2013–2017Volunteer at public telescope nights, Radboud University, the Netherlands
- 2015Publicity team, Dutch Astronomy Olympiad (Nederlandse Sterrenkunde Olympiade)
Conferences and seminars
Presenting new results on accretion, relativistic jets and black hole scaling relations at international conferences, workshops and invited seminars, and testing them in discussion with the X-ray binary, AGN and radio astronomy communities.
“Awakening the beast: how are X-ray binary outbursts triggered?”, my talk at “Chandra’s Dynamic Universe”, Cambridge, Massachusetts (August 2026).
Talk on optical monitoring of the black hole X-ray binary Swift J1910.2−0546 at the COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Greece (2022).
My first full seminar, at the University of Oxford (September 2017).
The 1.4 GHz Fundamental Plane at the Dutch Astronomy Conference (2017).
Discussing my optical Fundamental Plane poster with Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt (Physics, 2011) at the NOVA IRB meeting, the Netherlands (November 2016).
Receiving the FRYE Award for excellence in research, Radboud University Nijmegen (2015).
With the Doctoral Examination Board after my PhD defence, Radboud University Nijmegen (2018).
With my doctorate diploma after my PhD defence, Radboud University Nijmegen (2018).
The optical Fundamental Plane at “Quasars at All Cosmic Epochs”, Padova, Italy (2017).
Blazar jet Lorentz factors at “Extragalactic Relativistic Jets”, Bangalore, India (2015).
“Extragalactic Relativistic Jets: Cause and Effect”, ICTS, Bangalore (October 2015).
Group photo of the Dutch National Astronomy Conference, Nijmegen (2017). Can you find me?
SKA science event at the Australian Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai (2021).
Giving a talk at the ThunderKAT fourth-year meeting, Cape Town, South Africa (2022).
Presenting Swift J1910.2−0546 at “Growing Black Holes: Accretion and Mergers”, Kathmandu, Nepal (2022).
Participants of “Growing Black Holes: Accretion and Mergers”, Kathmandu, Nepal (2022).
The Outflows workshop on compact objects, Amsterdam (2019).
Invited seminar at UAE University, Al Ain.
“Timescales in Astrophysics”, an international conference hosted by NYU Abu Dhabi (January 2023), where I was on the Local Organising Committee.
“Overcoming disconnects in understanding of accreting black holes”, Leiden (2023).
The “Variable sources in the Galaxy” workshop, NYU Abu Dhabi (2024).
My first international school, as a Master’s student: the International School of Space Science, L’Aquila, Italy (April 2011).
“Black Holes Across the Universe: One Physics, Many Scales”, an invited online talk for students at Independent University, Bangladesh (February 2026).
All conferences and seminars
- 2026Time-Domain Multi-Messenger Astronomy Workshop (Bangladesh) · Chandra’s Dynamic Universe (USA) · Independent University (Bangladesh)
- 2025NASA’s 4th TDAMM workshop (USA) · Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (India) · National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (India)
- 2024X-ray group, University of Groningen (the Netherlands) · COSPAR Scientific Assembly (South Korea) · Variable sources in the Galaxy workshop, NYU Abu Dhabi (UAE)
- 2023Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (USA) · Chandra/HETG meeting, MIT (USA) · Microquasar workshop (Greece) · Khalifa University (UAE) · Accretion group, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands)
- 2022Idea session, Lorentz Center (the Netherlands) · ThunderKAT workshop (South Africa) · THEAPA meeting, University of Cambridge (UK) · COSPAR Scientific Assembly (Greece) · Growing Black Holes (Nepal) · Jagannath Barooah College (India)
- 20219th Microquasar Workshop (Italy) · COSPAR Scientific Assembly (Australia)
- 2020Chandra Frontiers in Time-Domain Science (USA) · JIVE (the Netherlands) · ARGI Author series, Independent University (Bangladesh)
- 2019High Energy Phenomena in Relativistic Outflows (Spain) · Outflows 2019 (the Netherlands) · Cosmic Explosions summer school (France)
- 2018Sharjah International Conference (UAE)
- 2017Northwestern University (USA) · WHAM, Radboud University (the Netherlands) · University of Oxford (UK) · University of Southampton (UK) · 70th Dutch Astronomy Conference (the Netherlands) · Quasars at All Cosmic Epochs (Italy)
- 2016NOVA IRB meeting (the Netherlands) · Blazars through Sharp Multi-Wavelength Eyes (Spain)
- 2015Extragalactic Relativistic Jets (India) · WHAM, Radboud University (the Netherlands)
- 2014Netherlands Accretion and Jet Theory Meeting (the Netherlands) · The X-ray Universe 2014 (Ireland)
- 2012Workshop on AGN and Gravitational Lensing (Serbia)
Telescopes and observatories
Observatories across the radio, optical and near-infrared that I have visited or observed with, from low-frequency radio telescopes in my first research project to my own observing runs at the Very Large Array (VLA), ESO’s New Technology Telescope at La Silla, and the Palomar 200-inch Hale Telescope.
My first introduction to radio telescopes, as a Bachelor’s student on a summer project at the Raman Research Institute, India (2009).
The Ooty Radio Telescope, India (2009).
The Gauribidanur Radio Telescope, India (2009).
The Westerbork telescope, the Netherlands, visited as a PhD student.
The Jodrell Bank telescope, UK, visited as a PhD student.
The Very Large Array, New Mexico (2018).
ESO’s La Silla Observatory, Chile (2020).
The MeerLICHT telescope, South Africa (2022).
The Palomar 200-inch Hale Telescope, California (2026).
The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), South Africa (2022).
Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) telescopes, South Africa (2022).
Accepted telescope proposals
- 2026Palomar · Chandra
- 2025NICER · Palomar · Swift · Chandra
- 2024Chandra · GRAVITY/VLTI · VISIR · Swift
- 2023Chandra · GRAVITY/VLTI · VISIR · Swift · ATCA
- 2022Chandra · GRAVITY/VLTI · VISIR · Swift · e-MERLIN · MeerKAT · ATCA · VLA
- 2021Chandra · GRAVITY/VLTI · VISIR · Swift · VLT
- 2020Chandra · GRAVITY/VLTI · VISIR · Swift · NICER
- 2019SOFI/NTT · VISIR · FORS2/VLT
- 2018VISIR · FORS2/VLT · AstroSat
- 2017AMI-LA
- 2016VLA · EVN
Community, diversity and culture
I work to make science more welcoming to women and to people from every background, from shaping policy in the UAE to encouraging young women and girls to choose a career in science.
Selected as a Young Affiliate of MBRAS, the UAE Academy of Scientists, and a core member of its Women in Science committee.
“Break the Bias”, an invited talk for a Girl Up student club, a United Nations Foundation initiative (2022).
A packed SPIC MACAY audience at the week-long SPIC MACAY National Convention, IIT Kharagpur.
The St. Stephen’s College chapter of SPIC MACAY, which I led as president.
With Grammy-winning Indian classical instrumentalist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, after a lecture-demonstration I organised.
- 2021–2023Core member, Diversity in Science Committee, MBRAS. Led a nationwide survey on the factors affecting the retention of women scientists in the UAE, published in F1000Research
- 2022–Inaugural associate member, Center of Astronomy, Space Science and Astrophysics, Independent University, Bangladesh, the country’s first astronomy research centre
- 2010–2020Mysterium Cosmographicum, my blog on science, space and travel, read by more than 35,000 readers
- 2010–Global coordinator, SPIC MACAY, a youth movement promoting Indian classical music and culture, with more than 1,000 chapters worldwide. Through SPIC MACAY I have been bringing India’s classical music and culture to young people, with performances and talks by masters such as Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Birju Maharaj and Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande.
- 2009–2010Core organising team, St. Stephen’s College science festival and the E-Fiesta electronics festival for school students, Delhi