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Erminia Calabrese

Professor Erminia Calabrese

Deputy Director of Research
Astronomy Instrumentation Group
Astronomy Group
Cardiff Hub for Astrophysics Research and Technology

School of Physics and Astronomy

Email
CalabreseE@cardiff.ac.uk
Telephone
+44 29208 75031
Campuses
Queen's Buildings, Room N/0.27, 5 The Parade, Newport Road, Cardiff, CF24 3AA

Overview

I am a cosmologist using observations of the relic light from the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), to constrain the properties of the Universe.

Here at Cardiff, I am a Professor working between the Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Astonomy Instrumentation groups.

Publication

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Articles

Conferences

Monographs

Websites

Research

My research combines theoretical work with statistical data analysis to answer fundamental questions about the Universe. I lead work on characterising multi-frequency CMB microwave data, on combining data from satellite and ground-based experiments, and on extracting the underlying primordial CMB signal carrying the imprint of the physics of the early Universe, leading to state-of-the-art constraints on neutrino physics, inflation, dark matter and dark energy physics.

I am a member of many CMB experiments: I am a long-standing science member of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, a Scientist of the Planck mission, and a full member of the Simons Observatory for which I chair the Theory and Analysis Committee and lead pipeline development for characterizing small-scale data. I am a full member of the proposed, Japanese-led LiteBIRD mission for which I also serve as UK National coordinator and European Deputy Spokesperson for LiteBIRD-Europe.

I am also a full member of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration, and a member of the Euclid Collaboration, looking at how to combine low-redshift data with the CMB.

Biography

Career Overview

  • 2019-date    Professor and Deputy Director of Research - Cardiff University (UK)
  • 2017-2019   Lecturer - Cardiff University (UK)
  • 2017-2022   STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow - University of Oxford (UK) / Cardiff University (UK)
  • 2015-16       Lyman Spitzer Jr. Fellow - Princeton University (USA)
  • 2014-15       Beecroft Fellow - University of Oxford (UK)
  • 2011-14       PDRA in astrophysics and cosmology - University of Oxford (UK)

Education

  • 2008-11     PhD  in Astronomy - Sapienza, Universita` di Roma (Ita)
  • 2006-08     Master (MSc) in Astronomy and Astrophysics - Sapienza, Universita` di Roma (Ita)
  • 2003-06     Bachelor (BSc) in Physics and Astrophysics - Sapienza, Universita` di Roma (Ita)

Awards

  • 2022    UKRI/STFC awards for SO:UK
  • 2022    Institute of Physics Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize, Learned Society of Wales Dillwyn Medal and Prize for STEMM
  • 2021    H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) consortium grant
  • 2019    European Research Council Starting Grant
  • 2019    Giuseppe and Vanna Cocconi Prize for the Planck Team
  • 2018    Gruber prize in cosmology as a member of the Planck team
  • 2018    Royal Astronomical Society Group Achievement Award for the Planck Team
  • 2018    Marcel Grossman Award to the Planck scientific collaboration
  • 2016    STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship
  • 2012    Junior Research Fellowship (non-stipendiary), Wolfson College, Oxford
  • 2011    Tito Maiani prize for thesis in physics

Professional services

  • Review/Editorial Board
    • Reviewer for PRD, PRL, JCAP, ApJ, MNRAS, A&A.
    • Review for STFC, UKRI, Royal Society grants.
    • Editor for JCAP.
    • Panel Member for the Fundação para Ciência e a Tecnologia, I. P. (FCT), 4th edition of the ‘Stimulus of Scientific Employment, Individual Support Call’; External reviewer for the Italian ‘Valutazione Qualita` Ricerca Italiana, Scienze Fisiche’
    • Mentor for the UKRI Future Leaders Fellows Development Network Leadership Mentoring Programme 
  • Speaking Engagement
    • I get regular invitations to give seminars, colloquia and conference/workshop talks. Over the last 10 years I have spoken at Aachen, Rome, Tenerife, Royal Astronomical Society-London, Stockholm, Florence, Louvain, Kings College London, Leiden, EPFL-Lausanne, UCL-London, Liverpool, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Sussex, Cambridge, Queen Mary-London, Crete, Oxford, Imperial College-London, Durham, Manchester, Amsterdam, Bielefeld, Heidelberg, SISSA-Trieste, and Bonn in Europe; BNL/Brookhaven, Ann Arbor-Michigan, Cornell, IAS-Princeton, and Chicago in the USA; JAXA in Tokyo, Japan. In 2022 I was a guest speaker at the UK Research Office and Greenwich ERC Starting Grant webinars.
  • Memberships of Scientific Societies
    • 2016-date     Member of the Cosmology and Astrophysics Network for Theoretical Advances and Training Actions (CANTATA) supported by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology
    • 2015-date     Member of the International Astronomical Union
  • Committees
    • 2023          'ISAPP 2023: Neutrino physics, astrophysics and cosmology', Scientific organising committee
    • 2022          'Simons Observaory:UK community meeting', Scientific organising committee
    • 2022          ‘From Planck to the Future of CMB’, Scientific organising committee
    • 2021          ‘Cosmo21’, Convener of the CMB session; ‘CMB-S4 spring meeting’, Scientific organising committee
    • 2021-date  Board member of the Rome Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science PhD Program
    • 2019         ‘B-modes from space’, Munich (Germany), Scientific organising committee; ‘LSST:UK all hands meeting’, Cardiff (UK), Co-organiser
    • 2018-date  Ambassador for the Data Innovation Research Institute, Cardiff University
    • 2018-19     PhD admission committee, Cardiff Astronomy
    • 2018          ‘CMB UK Townhall meeting’, Royal Astronomical Society, London (UK), Co-organiser
    • 2017          PhD admission committee, Oxford Astrophysics
    • 2016          Symposium on ‘CMB polarization foregrounds’ at EWASS 2016, Athens, Greece, Co-organiser
    • 2016          LOC member of the LSST DESC Collaboration meeting, Oxford
    • 2016          Co-organiser of the Astrophysics journal club, Oxford
    • 2014          Co-organizer of the ACT Collaboration meeting, Oxford
    • 2012-13     Co-organiser of the cosmology seminars, Oxford
    • 2013          ‘Synergetic Science with Euclid and the Square Kilometre Array’ workshop, Oxford (UK), LOC member

  • Outreach
    • 2023          BBC Science Cafe, BBC Sky at night magazine podcast
    • 2022          Talk at the Guilford Astronomical Society
    • 2019          Podcast on the Hubble constant for Pythagorean Astronomy and BBC Wales
    • 2019          Talk at the Cardiff Sixth Form College for A-level students
    • 2018          Interviews for Nature Astronomy and New Scientist magazine
    • 2018          Panel member at "Beyond Einstein: The Future of Physics", the Cheltenham Science Festival, UK
    • 2017          Panel member at "The Universe: What Don't We Know", the Cheltenham Science Festival, UK
    • 2015-17     Interviews for Symmetry Magazine and New Scientist UK
    • 2011-15     Stargazing Oxford
    • 2013          Royal Societry Summer Science Exhibition, London

Supervisions

  • Hidde Jense, Phd student at Cardiff (2020-date) -- kSZ and reionization from CMB data
  • Charlotte Braithwaite, PhD student at Cardiff (2019-date) -- Simons Observatory optics characterization.
  • Christiane Lorenz, PhD student at the University of Oxfrod (2016-2019) -- constraining neutrino physics and dark energy with low- and high-redshift data.

During 2013-2017 I have served as Advisor for graduate students at Wolfson College, Oxford.

Current supervision

Marc Vina Bertran

Marc Vina Bertran

Research student