Indranil Banik
Country: United Kingdom
Subject of study: PhD Astrophysics
Year of graduation: 2018
Type/Level of study: Postgraduate
After doing my undergraduate degree and Masters in Cambridge, I wanted to work on the modified gravity theory known as Milgromian dynamics (MOND). St Andrews was the only place in the UK where a senior academic (Dr Hongsheng Zhao) was offering PhD positions to explore MOND. I had been advised by several people that I should apply to work with him.
What did you most enjoy about your degree programme?The most enjoyable aspect was supervising a Masters student during my final year. In addition, I also really enjoyed handling referee comments on articles I submitted. I gradually learned that the comments are not supposed to be addressed in one day, similarly to how you might respond to an email asking about your work. Instead, it takes time to understand what the comments mean and what evidence is required to address them.
What have you been doing since graduating from St Andrews, and what are you doing now?I did a Humboldt fellowship in Bonn for three years. I then moved back to St Andrews to do a postdoc for another three years before moving to the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth where I am now.
Why did you choose this career? What do you enjoy most about your work?I have wanted to do astrophysics since I was about five years old. Seeing the polar caps on Mars with a telescope and knowing about polar caps on Earth, I wanted to know if the physics really works similarly to Earth in the far corners of the Universe. Sometimes the answer is no. This is by far the most enjoyable aspect of my work today. I work on testing hypotheses for why we cannot apply known physics to certain problems in cosmology, and what new physics might be required to explain the data.
What advice would you give to current and future students?Do something you enjoy. Avoid thinking about what you can get out of something but instead think whether it is actually useful to society in some way. The important thing is how you benefit others. Always ask the reason when you are being asked to do something – your boss should only be annoyed if there is no good reason. If there is no good reason, you’ll save a great deal of time and effort, which ultimately benefits your team or organisation.
