Experience
05/2023 – Present
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Copenhagen (DK)
Stochastic Thermodynamics group at the Niels Bohr International Academy with Prof. Karel Proesmans.
The first two years of my appointment I was funded by the European Commission through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship for the project "Stochastic thermodynamics of biochemical replication" (ID 101104602) with an individual score of more than 96%.
After the fellowship, I was appointed as a regular postdoctoral fellow at the Niels Bohr International Academy's Physics of Life section, and later at the Niels Bohr Institute's BioComplexity section.
Research topics:
Education
2018 – 2021
Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics, KU Leuven (BE)
Thesis on the theoretical development of the BLUES function method, as well as hierarchical deposition models, in the group of Prof. Dr. Joseph O. Indekeu.
I completed my PhD in a little under 3 years, where the typical duration is 4-5 years in Belgium.
2016 – 2018
M.Sc. in Physics, KU Leuven (BE)
Majored in Theoretical Physics and minored in applied mathematics. Graduated Cum Laude.
2013 – 2016
B.Sc. in Physics, Hasselt University (BE)
Majored in Theoretical Physics.
Grants & Awards
Research Grants
- Dphil Ragna Rask-Nielsen research grant (2024, DK)
- Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship (2023, EU/DK)
- Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) PhD Fellowship (2018, BE)
Travel Grants
- Marie Curie Alumni Association Micro Grant (2024, DE)
- MIT-KU Leuven MISTI Global Seed Fund (2020-2023, USA/BE)
- Academische Stichting Leuven Travel grant (2021, BE)
- 2x FWO Travel grant (2021, BE)
- VLIR-UOS Mobility grant (2019, BE)
- YouReCa Mobility grant (2019, BE)
Awards & Honours
- Selected to attend the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting in Physics to represent the European Commission, and co-signed the Mainau Declaration 2024 on Nuclear Weapons (2024, DE)
- G-Research’s November grant winner (2021, UK)
Teaching Experience
Teaching
2018 - 2021
Institute for Theoretical Physics, KU Leuven (BE) – Teaching Assistant
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Introduction to Biomechanics (1Y bachelor students in physical therapy; 1 semester)
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Advanced Topics in Physics (2Y bachelor students in civil engineering; 2 semesters)
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General Physics (2Y bachelor students in business engineering; 2 semesters)
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(LAB) Experimental Methods in Physics (2Y bachelor students in physics; 1 semester)
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(LAB) Introductory lab (1Y bachelor students in physics; 1 semester)
All courses involved a combination of physical teaching through exercise or laboratory sessions, the development of (digital) teaching materials and tests, grading of exams and feedback to the students.
2020 - 2021
Institute for Theoretical Physics, KU Leuven (BE) – Course coordinator theoretical physics bachelor theses
Responsible for the full coordination of all bachelor theses within the Theoretical Physics division. This included recruiting thesis supervisors, allocating students, follow-up with both students and supervisors, communication with the other division coordinators and mediation between the different parties involved.
Supervision
2019 - 2021
Institute for Theoretical Physics, KU Leuven (BE) – Bachelor, master and internship (co-)supervisor
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Supervisor Bachelor theses: Dries Beheydt and Egon Bleuckx
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Co-supervisor Master thesis: Thierry Rondagh
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Supervisor Research Internships: Pieter Vansteenweghen (now at MIT, USA), Orjan Ameye (now at Univ. of Konstanz, DE)
2023 - present
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen (DK) – Bachelor, master and internship (co-)supervisor
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Supervisor master thesis: Yue Wang (now at Gulbenkian Science Institute, PT)
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Co-Supervisor master thesis: Junichi Komatsu at University of Okayama, JP
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Supervisor Data Science & Machine Learning Project (PhD students Varun Venkatesh & Tianxiang Ma, NBI)
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Supervisor Data og Projekt (1Y bachelor students)
Personal Interests
In my free time, I enjoy windsurfing, hiking, boardgames and reading.