Hi, stargazers! Welcome to my webpage!
I am an astrophysicist, author and science communicator.
I work as a Research Assistant Professor (NCN team lead) at the NCBJ in Warsaw. I am also a visiting scientist at SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies), in Trieste, Italy, where I have worked as a postdoctoral research grant holder in astrophysics. My main research field is focused on the formation & evolution of galaxies, from the earliest epochs after the Big Bang to the present. For this, I combine observational data (from large ground-based and space-based observatories) and simulations. Very recently, I was awarded a large individual starting grant "SONATA", funded by the NCN, for the project called "Dusty Giants" of which I am the PI. The grant will help me further explore how the most massive galaxies in the Universe produce and destroy their stars, dust and gas.
I hold a PhD in Astrophysics and Cosmology from the University of Aix-Marseille, France. The main part of my doctoral work was conducted at the Laboratory of Astrophysics Marseille (LAM) where I was the OCEVU doctoral fellow working with Prof. Veronique Buat on the Herschel extragalactic surveys of dusty galaxies. Prior to this, I attended the University of Novi Sad in my native Serbia and Leiden University in the Netherlands.
In parallel to academic research, I am professionally involved in the fields of writing and science communication. My columns and essays are published in various popular science magazines, most regularly in the magazine Elementi, supported by the Centre for the promotion of science. In addition to my scientific writing, I write poetry and short stories. My poetry work has appeared in several anthologies, including signalism, an international neo-avant-garde literal movement. As a scientist, published author and science communicator, I am dedicated to bridging the gap between science and society. My passion is in using astronomy for creating different tools in order to generate community-building and to improve science education within the diverse communities (e.g., in Western Balkans).
I enjoy teaching science lectures. Recently, I developed and taught a masterclass "Effective science communication" to international researchers of different levels. Whenever my science duties allow me, I volunteer in my home country as an associate lecturer at the International Science Station "Petnica", one of the oldest independent organisations for extracurricular science education in Europe.