I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University. I completed my astrophysics PhD at the University of Surrey in June 2023. For five months in 2022, I joined the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute as a Predoctoral Fellow. My main research interest lies in stellar streams and whether they are sensitive to time-dependent, deforming dark matter halos. The Milky Way is currently deformed by the infalling Large Magellanic Cloud. Which streams are affected and can trace this? What does this tell us about the nature of dark matter?
PhD in Astrophysics, 2019 - 2023
University of Surrey, United Kingdom
MSc in Physics, 2016 - 2019
University of Heidelberg, Germany
BSc in Physics, 2012 - 2016
University of Heidelberg, Germany
Durham University Physics Department Developing Talent Awards 2024 Winner (14 February 2024)
Interviewed by astro[sound]bites: Spectacular stellar streams (12 March 2022)
PhD student selected for prestigious New York Pre-Doctoral Program (17 August 2021)
PGR Spotlight Collaboration & Collegiality Series: Sophia Lilleengen (20 July 2021)
Why get involved in the Doctoral College Conference Committee 2021? (16 November 2020)
New event promotes research culture among early career researchers (09 November 2020)
What our students say: Sophia Lilleengen (02 November 2020)