Payel Das

Dr. Payel Das is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow in the Astrophysics research group at the University of Surrey's School of Mathematics and Physics. She holds a PhD in Astrophysics from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. Previously, she explored energy-efficient housing design at UCL and worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher (PDRA) at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on galactic archaeology, combining dynamical modeling, machine learning, and phylogenetic methods to study stellar populations and dark matter distributions in galaxies.

Education: PhD in Astrophysics (Max Planck Institute), MSc/BA (not explicitly stated).

Research Interests: Chemical and dynamical properties of stars, forensic studies of galaxy evolution, interdisciplinary methods for big data analysis, and past work in sustainable housing. She uses techniques like equilibrium dynamical models, PCA/XD clustering, and evolutionary biology-inspired phylogenetics.

Publications: Over 30 peer-reviewed articles in top journals like Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, spanning topics from Milky Way structure to dwarf galaxy dynamics. Key contributions include uncovering Sagittarius satellite interactions and developing machine learning tools for stellar parameter estimation.

Awards: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (2021–present).

Labs/Teams: Leads projects on the GLEAM survey and collaborates with international teams on GALAH and APOGEE surveys.