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Staff Profile

Pieterjan Van Daele

Postgraduate Teaching Assistant

Background

I am originally from Bruges, Belgium, and obtained my MSc Astronomy and Astrophysics at KU Leuven in June 2023. I am now based at Â鶹´«Ã½ where I have joined the extended SYMPHONY project team led by Dr. Dominic Bowman. Beyond my passion for the stars, I love music, traveling, experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen and woodcraft. On weekends, you can often find me outdoors, appreciating some nature.



Research

My research interest lies in using asteroseismology to study the evolution of massive stars, with a focus on their interior physics. For my PhD thesis, I am developing new PSF-based light curve extraction techniques. With such high-quality light curves from the NASA TESS mission (and soon also ESA's PLATO mission to launch in 2026), I am investigating the occurrence and physical origin of stochastic low-frequency variability for a large and diverse sample of massive stars. Ultimately, I am to provide valuable constraints on the current mysteries surrounding massive star interiors, including angular momentum transport, convection, turbulence, and chemical mixing.


Teaching

I am involved in teaching and assisting for various modules within the school of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics

Publications

  • Article

    • Bowman DM, Van Daele P, Michielsen M, Van Reeth T. . Astronomy & Astrophysics 2024, 692, 10.