Ingrid Pelisoli

About Me

I was born in a small city called Osório, in the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul. I first considered becoming an astronomer when I was about three years old – it is one of my oldest memories: my grandfather was teaching me to identify the Orion constellation, which shines high during Summer in the Southern hemisphere. I remember asking him how many stars were there in the sky, and his answer was that there were too many to count. I was so amazed that, over twenty years later, I am still trying to learn how many stars are there. (Gaia has certainly been helpful!)

My passion for the stars was not my only one though. I also loved writing, so when it came the moment for deciding what I wanted do for a career, I decided to do two undergraduate degrees simultaneously: Physics and Journalism. I wanted to write about science, and help people understand it and love it as much as I did. However, when I started working on research, I realised that I did not need a career in Journalism to write about science. Research is a lot about writing, and finding the best way to convey your ideas. I left Journalism in order to dedicate fully to research.

This dedication payed out: the research I carried out during my undergrad resulted in three peer-reviewed papers. After graduating Summa cum Laude in 2012, I carried on doing research, completing a Masters degree in Astrophysics in 2014, and starting a PhD in the same year. I defended my thesis in June 2018, and obtained my PhD with honours. You can find my thesis here. It has been recognised as the Best Thesis of 2018 by the Brazilian Astronomical Society, and received a Honourable Mention in the Physics and Astronomy category of the 2018 CAPES Theses Prize, organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Education. A week after defending my thesis, I moved to Germany to start my first postdoc in the University of Potsdam in the Stellar Astrophysics group led by Prof. Stephan Geier. After two productive years in Germany, I joined the Astronomy & Astrophysics group at Warwick where I have been since November 2020.