Welcome to my personal space on the web!

I was a Research Associate in Asteroseismology at the Institute of Astronomy at KU Leuven, Belgium until December 2023, after having finished my Ph. D. in September 2023, and am now exploring opportunities to continue my research career. I earned my B. Sc. and M. Sc. in Chemistry (‘Chemie’) from the University of Antwerp and my M. Sc. and Ph. D. in Astronomy & Astrophysics from KU Leuven.

My work has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The topic of my research was centered around asteroseismology, which is the study of waves inside (variable) stars with the aim of characterizing the internal structure of stars so that theoretical models of their evolution and structure can be improved. I primarily focused my research on the energy exchange among (gravity) waves propagating inside (variable) stars, which is also known as non-linear (gravity) mode coupling. In addition, some of my research papers discussed the influence of magnetic fields on gravity waves inside stars.¹

In addition to asteroseismology, I am interested in a broad variety of topics that for example include (plasma/stellar) astrophysics, planetary sciences, applied mathematics (for a wide variety of purposes), astrochemistry, … One could state that I take lifelong scientific learning (very) seriously, as I tend to enjoy reading research papers in a variety of scientific fields. Any proposal for collaborative research within these or similar topics of interest is therefore welcome.²

I enjoyed teaching in (generic) freshman university-level physics courses, and enjoyed having been a tutor in chemistry / physics / mathematics at the secondary education level. I furthermore co-authored a Python exercise (in Dutch, my mother tongue) at the freshman (university) level that taught students how to visualize physical processes. By doing so, I hope to have (at least partially) contributed positively to the scientific formation of the next generation of scientists.

_{1: There is a difference between a gravity wave and a gravitational wave. Whereas the latter ripples the space-time continuum and is created by extremely energetic events such as the merger of a neutron star and a black hole, the former is much less energetic and therefore can be detected in less energy-dense environments, such as the interior of a star (). Gravity waves can be found ‘closer to home’: some of the waves propagating in the deep oceans of our planet Earth are gravity waves, because they are restored by buoyancy.}

_{2: Opportunities that allow me to branch out into a new reseach area are most welcome! Should you wish to contact me concering such an opportunity, you may find my contact details on the left of this web page.}