I love talking about black holes, stars and the night sky with anyone who will listen. Since 2011 I have given public talks to more than 3,500 students, visited schools in India and the UAE, 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.
Left: talk and discussion on “The Mysteries of the Universe” with students and teachers at ONGC, Dehradun (2016). Right: “The Universe” for high-school students at a rural school in Sibsagar, Assam (2015).
“The Invisible Universe: Black Holes, Dark Matter and Dark Energy”, talks at two girls’ schools 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 seminars at Jagannath Barooah College, Assam (2022), and online for Independent University, Bangladesh (2020).
Left: speaking with students of Shankardev Shishu Niketan, Sibsagar, about Astromundus and astrophysics (2013). Right: question-and-answer session on astronomy with students and the public at the 30th Guwahati Book Fair, Assam (2017).
Indian 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
2023–2025
School talks across the UAE through the Scientists in Residence programme of MBRAS, the UAE Academy of Scientists
2021–2023
Lecturer, annual NYU Abu Dhabi Astronomy Camps for students across the UAE
2017–2023
Guided NYU Abu Dhabi students on astronomy trips to the Sharjah Planetarium
2022
Women in STEM talk for a student club of Girl Up, a United Nations Foundation initiative
2022
Invited seminar, Department of Physics, Jagannath Barooah College, Assam
2021
“History of Astronomy”, Sheikh Zayed Academy for Girls, Abu Dhabi
2020
Invited online seminar on black hole disc–jet coupling, Astronomy Research Group, Independent University, Bangladesh
2013–2017
Volunteer at public telescope nights, Radboud University, the Netherlands
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.
Left: “Awakening the beast: how are X-ray binary outbursts triggered?”, my talk at “Chandra’s Dynamic Universe”, Cambridge, Massachusetts (August 2026). Right: 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), and the 1.4 GHz Fundamental Plane at the Dutch Astronomy Conference (2017).
Left: discussing my optical Fundamental Plane poster with Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt (Physics, 2011) at the NOVA IRB meeting, the Netherlands (November 2016). Right: receiving the FRYE Award for excellence in research, Radboud University Nijmegen (2015).
My PhD thesis defence, “Disc–jet coupling in supermassive black holes”, Radboud University Nijmegen (2018). Left: after the ceremony with the Doctoral Examination Board: acting rector Prof. Dr. G.A. Nelemans, supervisor Prof. Dr. H.D.E. Falcke, co-supervisor Dr. E.G. Körding, and committee members Prof. Dr. R. Fender, Dr. D. Russell, Prof. Dr. F.W.M. Verbunt, Dr. M. Haverkorn, Prof. Dr. P.G. Jonker, Prof. Dr. S.B. Markoff and Dr. Ph. Uttley. Right: with my doctorate diploma.
The optical Fundamental Plane at “Quasars at All Cosmic Epochs”, Padova, Italy (2017), and 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?
Left: SKA science event at the Australian Pavilion, Expo 2020 Dubai (2021). Right: 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), my first in-person meeting after two and a half years online due to COVID-19.
Left: the Outflows workshop on compact objects, Amsterdam (2019). Right: 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), and the “Variable sources in the Galaxy” workshop, NYU Abu Dhabi (2024).
Left: my first international school, as a Master’s student: the International School of Space Science, L’Aquila, Italy (April 2011). Right: “Black Holes Across the Universe: One Physics, Many Scales”, an invited online talk for students at Independent University, Bangladesh (February 2026).
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: Bangalore, Ooty and Gauribidanur, India (2009).
Telescope visits as a PhD student: the Westerbork telescope, the Netherlands, and the Jodrell Bank telescope, UK.
The Very Large Array, New Mexico (2018), and ESO’s La Silla Observatory, Chile (2020).
Left: the MeerLICHT telescope, South Africa (2022). Middle: the Palomar 200-inch Hale Telescope, California (2026). Right: the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), South Africa (2022).
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. Left: selected as a Young Affiliate of MBRAS, the UAE Academy of Scientists, and a core member of its Women in Science committee. Right: “Break the Bias”, an invited talk for a Girl Up student club, a United Nations Foundation initiative (2022).
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. Left: a packed SPIC MACAY audience. Middle: the St. Stephen’s College chapter, which I led as president. Right: with Grammy-winning Indian classical instrumentalist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
2021–2023
Core 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
2010–2020
Mysterium 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
2009–2010
Core organising team, St. Stephen’s College science festival and the E-Fiesta electronics festival for school students, Delhi
