Ashwathi Nair

Across my academic journey, I have attended a range of hands-on training opportunities that have helped me learn different softwares and codes that can be used to study different astrophysical scenarios. They have helped me gain better understanding of theoretical concepts and how a single problem can be approached in different ways using different tools to understand different elements of the problem! I have treasured them as little cool Pokémons to try and incorporate into my own research.

Here I highlight a few schools that stayed with me and have made me think after the end of school.

Gravitational Waves School ICTS, Banglore, India (2022)

I had an opportunity to attend the Summer school of Gravitational waves at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS-TIFR), Banglore. The school focused on two graduate-level courses- Stellar structure, evolution, collapse, and supernovae: By Dr. Bernhard Muller (Monash University, Australia); Compact binary evolution, rates, and population modeling: By Dr. Christopher Berry (University of Glasgow, UK). During the course of this summer school, I undertook a mini project on Hierarchical mergers. I chose the project for two reasons; Firstly, to understand the basic theory of hierarchical mergers and learn about different astrophysical scenarios in which the binaries would evolve, and about different formation channels of binary stellar-mass BHS. Secondly, it was executed to get familiar with different techniques used to approach a similar problem. This journey summed up, made me realize that the research problems I'm immensely interested in, and wish to work on are, ● Studying the astrophysics of the gravitational wave sources, working towards understanding massive stellar evolution, and evolutionary channels. ● Formation channels - Binary system evolution in isolation, its formation through dynamical interactions in globular clusters. ● Understanding the physical processes such as common envelope evolution, core-collapse supernova, and pair-instability with the help of Gravitational-wave observation. ● To understand how compact objects affect the geometry of gravitationally strong regions Funfact: This school was the one that made me realize that I absolutely love studying stellar astrophysics and that I wish to divert from theoretical general relativity to studing the formation channels of gravitational wave sources that gives me a nice balance of theory and observations. This helped me immensely to decide what research topic I wanted to pursue during my PhD and I found the right position and amazing supervisors!

Modules of Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) Winter School, Sydney (2024)

Phantom Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Code (2025)

ICESUN Summer School: Binary Stars and Compact Objects, China (2025)/h3>

POpulation SYnthesis with detailed binary evolution simulatiONs (POSYDON)(2025)

Teaching

Teaching little curious minds gives me so much joy. I have been a high school physics and maths lecturer for several years, and I continue to enjoy helping students build confidence in difficult concepts. As part of my PhD journey, I have also supervised short-term work experience students and supported early-career learners by mentoring them.

Outreach

Outreach is one of the most meaningful parts of my work. I enjoy creating spaces where science feels welcoming, approachable,accessible and exciting for broader audiences. Through public engagement and communication, I hope to make astrophysics more visible and more inclusive to the people who might one day become part of it.

I am an Outreach Ambassador of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discivery. As an outreach ambassador, I aim to bridge the gap between complex overgrowing astrophysical discoveries and the broader public. I have spent a significant amount of time during the forst two years of my PhD supporting and leading the 'Mission Gravity' outreach sessions in over 11+ schools in in Victoria, Australia. The main goal of this session was to introduce stellar astronomy and teach students how to use basic properties such as mass, tempertaure, wavelength, color of the star as a tool to learn about their changing outfits and personalities to understand what phase they are going through! Along with this I also conduct AstroTours for students of all ages to teach them more about telescopes, our solar system and the universe.

Here are a few snippets from my outreach journey!

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

I am currently a student representative on the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion committee at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing. This work matters to me because I believe that strong research communities are built through care, representation, diversity and access. I have been currently working towards building a neurodivergent support group within our department by creating awareness and providing safe space and resources for the same.

PhD

Coming soon.

Visually Impaired

Coming soon.