- juliedalgobbo
Name: Timon Emken
Current position: Postdoc
Affiliation: University of Stockholm
Field of research: Astroparticle physics
What is your career trajectory to date?
In 2013, I finished my master degree in physics at the University of Göttingen in Germany. I first started to work on dark matter as a PhD student at the University of Southern Denmark. Shortly after my PhD, I joined the dark matter group at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden. Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow at Stockholm University and remain connected to Chalmers as a visiting researcher.
What are the most exciting open questions in your research area?
Most of us desperately want to know the answers to the questions "What is dark matter?" and "How can we learn more about it, can we detect it?". Another open problem keeping me up at night is "What is taking the referee so long?".
What do you like and dislike about being a scientist?
There is a lot of freedom in being a scientist, which is great. I also love the idea of research as a life-long, curiosity-driven learning process.
What I like less is the uncertainty of an academic career, which is not very family-friendly.
Which of your skills are you most proud of, or find most useful?
Over the last years, I appreciated more and more the value of proper research software design. I therefore found my coding skills to be most useful.
In your career so far, at what point were you the most excited, and what were you excited about?
Last year I submitted my first single-author paper. That was pretty exciting.
What new skills would you like to learn in the next year?
I keep learning how to structure my work in a more efficient way. Sometimes I find it hard to work on multiple projects in parallel (and not just on my favorite one).
What advances or new results are you excited about or looking forward to?
There are always results from the various ongoing direct detection experiments that I look forward to. (Hopefully not just null-results.)
What is the biggest obstacle that is slowing down your research field right now?
Mostly that dark matter seemingly refuses to interact with anything except via gravity. We really do not know much about it...
What role do you think a community network like EuCAPT can play in developing theoretical astroparticle physics and cosmology in Europe?
I think EuCAPT can deliver the opportunity to network across Europe and facilitate a closer network where new collaborations can naturally emerge.
What’s your favorite food? You mean other than chocolate?
Have you lived in a different European country than you do now? If so, would you like to tell us something about it, e.g. a fond memory or something you found surprising?
I have lived in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. I have had great fun getting to know the Danish culture and customs. Hygge is amazing. The most fond memory however was here in Sweden, where I became a father.
How do you like to relax after a hard day of work?
By spending time with my family, listening to a podcast, or watching a good TV series.
Do you have any non-physics interests that you would like to share?
I love the outdoors and keep enjoying the beautiful nature of Sweden.
If you were not a scientist, what do you think you would be doing? Probably a programmer or software engineer.
What do you hope to see accomplished scientifically in the next 50 years?
In my own field, I would like witness a dark matter discovery. More generally and also more importantly, we need a solution to the climate crisis, a huge challenge to overcome, not just scientifically.
What question would you have liked us to ask you, and what would you have responded?
I wish you would have asked me, whether or not I have a website or active twitter account. The answer is YES :). You can learn more about my work on timonemken.com and follow me on Twitter (@TimonEmken).
- juliedalgobbo
Name: Cora Uhlemann
Current position: Faculty
Affiliation: Newcastle University
Field of research: Cosmic large-scale structure
What is your career trajectory to date?
I studied Physics and Mathematics in Munich, finishing my diploma and master programs in 2012. I pursued a PhD in Theoretical Cosmology in the group of Stefan Hofmann at LMU Munich and finished in summer 2015. I started a PostDoc in the group of Enrico Pajer as part of the Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics and Utrecht University in 2015. In 2017 I moved to Cambridge to become a Research Associate in the group of Paul Shellard at The Stephen Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology and a Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College. Since 2020, I am a Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Newcastle University and part of our research groups on Theoretical Cosmology & Observational Astronomy.
What are the most exciting open questions in your research area?
What precisely is the dark universe made of? Will the dark energy continue to drive an accelerated cosmic expansion and prevent new structures from forming? Is dark matter better described as a collection of particles or a field showing wave phenomena on astrophysical scales? Will we be able to pin down the neutrino mass hierarchy with the comic large scale structure?
What do you like and dislike about being a scientist?
I love being a scientist because it allows me to pursue exciting questions at the research frontier, continuously learn new things and collaborate with people from all over the world to solve exciting mysteries. I like that my job has a wide variety of activities including doing research myself, supervising junior researchers, leading collaborative projects, teaching and educating the next generation, shaping the scientific community and reaching out to the world beyond academia. I dislike the considerable pressures that arise from the push to pursue all those science dimensions at the same time, especially in an academic environment driven by the economisation of science.
Which of your skills are you most proud of, or find most useful?
I'm most proud of my grit, which was instrumental in my science career so far. I think it's one of the most important skills for dealing with the strong competition in academia, common setbacks in research and various sources of rejection from applications for jobs, talks and funding. I wish the scientific environment would require less resilience than it currently does, as I think it's one important factor hampering diversity.
In your career so far, at what point were you the most excited, and what were you excited about?
I feel it's natural for scientists to be most excited about now and the future. Currently, I am most excited about the prospect of building up my research group and seeing three(!) large-scale galaxy surveys happen over the next few years. They will for sure keep us busy with theoretical modelling and excited about confronting theory with galaxy survey data to extract fundamental physics. And maybe the late-time universe has a surprise in store for us.
What is the biggest obstacle that is slowing down your research field right now?
I think right now the shift to large-scale remote working and the absence of in-person meetings is making it much more difficult to build the sort of community that is essential for scientific progress.
What role do you think a community network like EuCAPT can play in developing theoretical astroparticle physics and cosmology in Europe?
I think EuCAPT is in a unique position to form a community at the interface between different fields essential for astroparticle physics and cosmology. I hope it will further grow and cultivate an identity driven by an interaction between theory, simulations and observations, and by building bridges between particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology.
What’s your favorite food?
Although I'm a theoretical cosmologist, I am often found munching on Starmix gummy sweets.
Have you lived in a different European country than you do now? If so, would you like to tell us something about it, e.g. a fond memory or something you found surprising?
Having moved from Germany to the Netherlands for my postdoc, the range and size of things that I saw being transported on a bike was truly mind-boggling.
Do you have any non-physics interests that you would like to share?
I am a big fan of castles and often try to combine travel to a conference with viewings of local remnants of the non-cosmological dark ages.
If you were not a scientist, what do you think you would be doing?
I initially toyed with the idea of studying psychology instead of physics, so who knows. But I guess it's more likely that I would have studied physics and then gone into project management or consulting. At least that was my half-baked plan B in case climbing the ivory tower of academia didn't work out.
- Andrew Taylor
Dear All,
Continuing with our regular EuCAPT newsletters for 2022, this is our January
issue. Our newsletter aims to keep you informed of recent/upcoming theoretical astroparticle physics related developments, with a focus on Europe.
Next EuCAPT Colloquium:
`Dynamics and history of the Milky Way with Gaia', Teresa Antoja, University of Barcelona, 3pm CET, Tue 8th Feb 2022. zoom connection
Upcoming EuCAPT Colloquia Timetable:
Upcoming Events:
The EuCAPT webpage provides an up-to-date list of upcoming astroparticle
physics events: https://www.eucapt.org/events
Please note in particular the upcoming schools in Spring 2022:
GGI PhD School: Astroparticle Physics, Cosmology and Gravitation, Florence 14-25 March 2022 https://agenda.infn.it/event/28760/page/5985-practical-info
ISAPP School: Astrophysical sources of cosmic rays, Paris Saclay 28 March - 8 April 2022
...and the upcoming mini workshop:
`How measuring baryons can improve clustering analyses', 28 Jan 2022 @9pm UTC
Upcoming Seminars Calendar:
A list of virtual meetings are provided on our calendar:
Discussion Forum
We invite you to join our EuCAPT discussion forum on mattermost:
This has been set up to facilitate open discussion within our EuCAPT community.
Job Opportunities:
Our mattermost channel provides a list of job advertisements:
In particular, please note two assistant professor positions in basic science (deadline 31 Jan 2022): https://inspirehep.net/jobs/1982295
To facilitate information flow around our community, please feel to contact us with any information that you feel maybe suitable for circulation in future newsletters (eucapt.info@gmail.com). In particular, we encourage the community to indicate to us upcoming conferences and events which they would like us to advertise.
All the best,
Andrew (on behalf of the EuCAPT SC)