Dr Joris Witstok FRAS
Curriculum Vitae
Research Interests
Research Experience
DAWN fellow
Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen
2024 - present
Postdoctoral research fellow (DAWN Fellow) at the Cosmic Dawn Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
2022 - 2024
Multiple first-author publications including in Nature, Principal Investigator of multiple successful ALMA observing programs, Associate Member of the James Webb Space Telescope NIRSpec Instrument Team (allocated 800+ hours telescope time).
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Astrophysics
Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
2018 - 2022
Supervised by Dr Renske Smit and Prof Roberto Maiolino. Thesis title: Spectroscopic studies of star-forming galaxies and the intergalactic medium in the early Universe. Published four first-author papers, Principal Investigator of Hubble Space Telescope observations.
Education
Master of Advanced Study (MASt) in Astrophysics
Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
2017 - 2018
Graduated with distinguished performance (Distinction, 85/100). Supervised by Dr Ewald Puchwein, Dr Girish Kulkarni, and Prof Martin Haehnelt.
Double Bachelor of Science in Physics and Astronomy
University of Leiden
2014 - 2017
Graduated cum laude both in Physics and Astronomy (8.9 out of 10 average), combined with Honours College.
Scholarships & Honours
Mike Phillips Award
Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge
2023
Awarded the Mike Phillips Award for the pursuit of excellence in sport (Full Blue in Road Cycling).
Selected Publications
Full list of publications
Successful Observing Proposals
Origins of Oxygen: ALMA probing chemical enrichment of the first stars
Principal Investigator of ALMA program 2023.1.00336.S
Cold Dust at Cosmic Dawn: uncovering a cool dust reservoir in the Epoch of Reionization
Principal Investigator of ALMA programs 2022.1.00925.S, 2023.1.00379.S, 2024.1.00675.S
Imaging the sites of star formation at sub-kiloparsec scales in the Epoch of Reionization
Principal Investigator of Hubble Space Telescope program ID 16506
Rest-frame UV diagnostics of star-forming galaxies in an extreme protocluster environment at z ~ 3
Co-Principal Investigator of ESO program 105.20RW
Various observing proposals
Co-Investigator on 23 observing programs with James Webb Space Telescope, ALMA, and the Very Large Telescope
Selected Talks & Presentations
European Astronomical Society Meeting 2024
Padova, Italy
2024
Invited speaker at the European Astronomical Society Meeting 2024.
Cardiff University
Cardiff, UK
2024
Invited seminar at Cardiff University.
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, USA
2024
Invited seminar at the California Institute of Technology.
Royal Astronomical Society
London, UK
2024
Invited seminar at the RAS Astronomy and Geophysics Highlights Meeting and invited panellist at the RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting.
Cosmic Dawn Center
Copenhagen, Denmark
2024
Invited seminar talk at the Cosmic Dawn Center.
Complutense University
Madrid, Spain
2023
Invited seminar at Complutense University.
American Astronomical Society Bi-Annual Meeting
Albuqueque, USA
2023
Invited speaker at the 242nd meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Scuola Normale Superiore
Pisa, Italy
2022
Invited seminar talk at the Scuola Normale Superiore.
In Situ View of Galaxy Formation 2
Ringberg, Germany
2022
Invited speaker at the In Situ View of Galaxy Formation 2 Conference.
Teaching & Supervision
Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
2019 - 2022Teaching assistant for (under)graduate courses in the Physics department at the University of Cambridge.
Physics and Astronomy, University of Leiden
2015 - 2017Teaching assistant for undergraduate courses in the Physics and Astronomy department at the University of Leiden.
Media & Outreach
European Space Agency
2019 - 2022
ESA press release covered by 50+ news outlets including Sky & Telescope.
BNR Nieuwsradio
2023
Radio interview with BNR Dutch national radio (estimated 0.5 million weekly listeners).
Institute of Astronomy Open Evening
2020
Public Lecture at the Open Evening of Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge.
Leiden University Old Observatory
2015 - 2017
Custodian and tour guide at the Old Observatory of the University of Leiden.
University of Leiden PR team
2015 - 2017
PR Ambassador of the Physics department at the University of Leiden.
Skills & proficiencies
Written Communication
Proven track record in scientific literature (author on 80 publications totalling over 3000 citations).
Leadership
Principal Investigator of multiple successful ALMA observing programs (30 hours), Co-Chair of the Richard Hills memorial conference committee.
Network & Collaboration
Associate Member of the James Webb Space Telescope NIRSpec instrument team (allocated 800+ hours GTO time).
Communication & Services
Presented scientific results at 20 international conferences, helped organize several, served on multiple departmental committees, developed a publicly available code, acted as referee for major journals (Nature, MNRAS, ApJ).
Mathematical and Statistical Modelling
Noise modelling and marginal signal retrieval, Bayesian inference with MCMC methods (development of publicly available parallelised codes MERCURIUS, lymana_absorption).
Data Analysis & Visualisation
Extensive working experience with pipelines and statistical analysis of large data sets (cosmological hydrodynamical simulations and observational surveys).
Computing & Programming
Highly proficient at Python (NumPy, SciPy, mpi4py, Matplotlib), UNIX, bash, LaTeX, git (6+ years’ working experience); familiar with C++, SQL, HTML, machine-learning methods.
Training & Instructing
Extensive experience (10+ years) of tutoring, supervision (students of undergraduate through PhD level), teaching, and assessment (admission interviews at Cambridge); broad experience as a (professional) coach in baseball, rowing (10+ years).
Languages
Dutch (mother tongue), English (fluent).
Contact
For references or a more detailed version of my CV, please contact me directly: