Summary

In 2025, I started a new research group as assistant professor in Asteroseismology, Binary Evolution, and Gravitational-Wave Progenitors at the Institute of Astronomy of the KU Leuven (Belgium). My team StarHearts is funded by an FWO Odysseus grant and a KU Leuven starting grant. I work (40%) as a NWO-Veni fellow at the Anton Pannekoek Institute of the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). I am also a member of the Leuven Gravity Institute.

Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, Germany, in the group of Fabian Schneider, where I worked on the pre-supernova properties of massive binary stars, the formation of black holes, and stellar explosions. I also led the outreach project Habitable, a boardgame about the habitability of planets and the connection to the Earth’s climate crisis.

I completed my PhD at the Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in the BinCosmos group led by Selma de Mink, with Stephen Justham as a co-advisor. My PhD work focused on understanding the late-time evolution, death, and after-life of “binary-stripped stars”, massive stars that have lost their outer layers due to interactions in binary systems. To this end, I performed numerical simulations with MESA and SNEC.

Before I began my PhD, I completed a Bachelor of Science and then a Master of Science degree in physics at the University of Tübingen, Germany. I specialized in the field of high energy astrophysics and focused on understanding the properties of accreting X-ray binaries. I completed my Bachelor thesis at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), in Madrid, Spain, during a three months traineeship. During my Master’s thesis, I had the privilege to visit the MAXI team laboratory in RIKEN, Wako-shi, Japan, as an International Program Associate, for an extended stay of 9 months.

For my undergraduate research projects, I had the opportunity to work at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo, Japan (2019), at the Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik in Tübingen, Germany (2013-2017), at RIKEN, near Tokyo, Japan (2016), and at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid, Spain (Summers 2014 and 2015).

More about me

Another interest of mine is to develop computing and visualization tools for astrophysics. Tools I have developed so far include a real-time monitor of the activity of Be X-ray binaries, and TULIPS, the Tool for Understanding the Lives, Interiors, and Physics of Stars. Learn more about these in the computing tools section.

I’m passionate about teaching and science communication and my efforts have been recognized by multiple outreach awards. These include the ET Outreach award of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities for TULIPS (2021) and the Hochschulwettbewerb of Wisschenschaft im Dialog, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, for Habitable (2024).

Originally, I come from Strasbourg (France). I’m European, with French and German nationalities. I’m committed to promoting an inclusive, diverse, and safe work environment and more sustainable practices in the times of climate crisis. Outside of work, I enjoy sports, in particular running and cycling, spending time with friends and family, and noticing the natural beauty of this world.