The KIF Prize is an honorary award that is awarded annually to raise awareness about the importance of women in physics and identify female physicists as role models.

Q: Congratulations on being awarded the KIF Prize 2023! What does it mean to you to receive this prize?

It is a big honour and I am deeply thankful for having received the award. It is wonderful to be reminded that my efforts have not gone unnoticed and that is in itself incredibly rewarding. It is certainly a big responsibility to be a role model, but also, what an incredible honour!

Q: In their motivation, the prize committee have emphasized your many scientific contributions at such an early stage of your career. Would you please tell us about your research?

I am studying the stars in our Galaxy, the Milky Way, and using the stellar signatures to learn more about our Galactic past. Stars are formed throughout the lifetime of the Milky Way and they carry signatures of the conditions in their birth environment and of their subsequent history. By using the stars in the Galaxy as time capsules, we can reconstruct the timeline of what happened when at what scales in the Milky Way, and this way we can learn about the formation and evolution of our own Milky Way as well as other galaxies.

Q: Please tell us about your career path. Where have you studied and which positions have you held before your current position as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Sun, Stars & Exoplanets group at University of Birmingham? 

I did my university studies at Aarhus University, where I studied Physics and Astronomy. During my fourth year, I started my PhD studies at the Stellar Astrophysics Centre, a DNRF Centre of Excellence associated with the department. There I got the opportunity and privilege to work with world-renowned experts in the field of stellar and exoplanetary science. During the pandemic, I started a postdoctoral fellowship at the Asterochronomy research group at Universitá di Bologna in Bologna in Italy. I got to work with people with a significantly different research profile and background than my own and I gained a perspective about ensembles of stars and stellar populations that can only be gained by collaborating with a diverse group of people.

In August 2023, I started my current position as a research fellow at the Sun, Stars & Exoplanets group at University of Birmingham. Here I am leading a working group for the preparation of the upcoming ESA space mission PLATO. I am also working together with experts in statistics and machine learning to push the boundary of inference of stellar properties – work that can help us narrow down when various important events occurred in the early Milky Way.

Q: What was your motivation for pursuing a career in physics and how did you choose the field you are now specializing in?

Growing up, I fell in love with reading, and throughout my primary and secondary school years, I was lucky enough to have been surrounded by many great teachers who let me nerd out, gave me opportunities to discuss and develop skills and let me learn to enjoy learning.

In the school library, I came across two books that cemented my decision to pursue physics. One was ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking, the other was ‘Stjernestøv og Planeter’ by Anja C. Andersen. Before reading the latter, it had never before occurred to me that a career in physics and astronomy was even a possibility – but these books became my compass for navigating my way through the educational system to a career in astrophysics.

I did my university studies at the Stellar Astrophysics Centre in Aarhus, which — surprise, surprise — specialised in the studies of stars and had some of the world’s leading experts in stellar physics. My supervisor was great at being aware of the latest things that were happening, both in our research field but also in adjacent fields, and halfway through my PhD we pivoted and changed the main aim of my PhD to be more focused on the Galaxy and stellar structures as opposed to individual stars. With the advent of data from the Gaia mission, this field has been moving quickly and I am happy to be contributing to such a new and exciting field of astrophysics.

Q: You have been awarded the KIF prize for your impressive research and for being a role model to other women in physics. Who have been your own role models and mentors and how have they inspired and supported you?

I’ve had many excellent mentors along the way. Most of my managers have been male — they were great, but it would have been nice to have a female boss for a change! Of course there have also been many great scientists along the way, male and female, they know who they are. I hope I can do my bit to be a role model for more junior researchers!

Q: What advice would you give to other young people (in particular women and minorities) who dream of pursuing a career in science?

Take a deep breath — progress is not always a linear function of work. Be brave, believe in your passion, and keep exploring!