ASTRO Colloquium with Pratika Dayal on Galaxy evolution

Event Date:
2026-10-26T16:00:00
2026-10-26T17:00:00
Event Location:
HENN 318
Speaker:
Pratika Dayal, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA)
Related Upcoming Events:
Astronomy Colloquia
Intended Audience:
Everyone
Local Contact:

Brett Gladman (gladman@astro.ubc.ca)

All are welcome to this event!

Event Information:

Abstract: [Coming soon!]

Bio:

Pratika Dayal is a professor at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. After receiving her PhD from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA, Trieste, Italy), Dayal was a postdoctoral fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics (Potsdam, Germany), the Institute for Astronomy (Edinburgh, U.K.) and the Institute for Computational Astronomy (Durham, U.K.). She then spent a decade as a faculty member at the Kapteyn Institute at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) before joining the University of Toronto. Her research spans understanding galaxies and their black holes through 13.8 billion years of cosmic time, their impact on the universe, and shedding light on the nature of dark matter.

Professor Dayal’s research group has been supported by several international grants including a starting grant awarded by the European Research Council (ERC; 2016), a mid-career VIDI grant awarded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO, 2017) and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) discover grant (2025). For her work, she has also been awarded a Young Scientist medal (2017) by the International Union of Pure & Applied Physics.

Dayal has advised more than 30 students over all career stages and is a core member of international cutting-edge astronomical research facilities including the James Webb Space Telescope, Euclid, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA).

Firmly committed to fostering equity, diversity and inclusivity in academia, she has undertaken grassroots initiatives which include visiting high schools, giving lectures to student societies at all levels and being a tutor for undergraduate students to help them find the right study trajectory. Dayal also regularly gives outreach lectures and has collaborated with Stereoptik, a company comprising visual artists and musicians, to create a show about the history of the universe, called Stellaire.

Learn More:

 

Add to Calendar 2026-10-26T16:00:00 2026-10-26T17:00:00 ASTRO Colloquium with Pratika Dayal on Galaxy evolution Event Information: Abstract: [Coming soon!] Bio: Pratika Dayal is a professor at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. After receiving her PhD from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA, Trieste, Italy), Dayal was a postdoctoral fellow at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics (Potsdam, Germany), the Institute for Astronomy (Edinburgh, U.K.) and the Institute for Computational Astronomy (Durham, U.K.). She then spent a decade as a faculty member at the Kapteyn Institute at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) before joining the University of Toronto. Her research spans understanding galaxies and their black holes through 13.8 billion years of cosmic time, their impact on the universe, and shedding light on the nature of dark matter. Professor Dayal’s research group has been supported by several international grants including a starting grant awarded by the European Research Council (ERC; 2016), a mid-career VIDI grant awarded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO, 2017) and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) discover grant (2025). For her work, she has also been awarded a Young Scientist medal (2017) by the International Union of Pure & Applied Physics. Dayal has advised more than 30 students over all career stages and is a core member of international cutting-edge astronomical research facilities including the James Webb Space Telescope, Euclid, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). Firmly committed to fostering equity, diversity and inclusivity in academia, she has undertaken grassroots initiatives which include visiting high schools, giving lectures to student societies at all levels and being a tutor for undergraduate students to help them find the right study trajectory. Dayal also regularly gives outreach lectures and has collaborated with Stereoptik, a company comprising visual artists and musicians, to create a show about the history of the universe, called Stellaire. Learn More: See her faculty profile from the University of Toronto: https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/about/glance/new-faculty/2025-26/pratika-dayal  See her personal website: https://pratika24.wixsite.com/pratika-dayal  From the CITA website, watch video, "The emergence of galaxies in the first billion years": https://www.cita.utoronto.ca/items/emergence-galaxies-first-billion-years/    Event Location: HENN 318