In 2016 I started a new research group at the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy (API) of the University of Amsterdam, owing to an NWO Vidi grant. The API is a wonderful and vibrant institute to work at, and Amsterdam is an exciting city to live in.

With my group at API, I study neutron star physics, accretion flows, jets and winds using radio, infrared, optical, UV and X-ray observations from various Earth-based and space-based telescopes. The prime instruments we work with are the Hubble Space Telescope, NuSTAR, Chandra, XMM-Newton, Swift and NICER satellites, the Isaac Newton Telescope,  Magellan, Gemini, and Very Large Telescope observatories, as well as the Very Large Array and Australia Telescope Compact Array radio facilities. I particularly enjoy designing and carrying our ambitious observing programs that coordinate multiple observatories and allow to make exciting discoveries.

In 2019, my group and I organized an international conference, called Winds to jets: The role of outflows in compact binaries, which was held on July 1-3 in Amsterdam. We discussed the disk winds and jets from accreting white dwarfs, neutron stars, and stellar-mass black holes. See the conference website to find talks and pictures.

Current team members:
Stefanie Fijma: PhD candidate, probing binary evolution through multi-wavelength observations of binaries with compact objects (2021-present).

Iris Reitsma: Master student, the origin of the nIR emission in X-ray binaries (2022-2023).
Eleonora Caruso: Master student, high-resolution X-ray observations of the accretion disk atmosphere in a neutron star X-ray binary (2022-2023).
Simon van Eeden: Master student, a new search search algorithm for narrow lines in X-ray binary spectra (2022-2023).
Vysakh Puthusseril Anilkumar: Master student, developing an algorithm to characterize the shapes of lines in UV/optical/nIR spectra of X-ray binaries (2022-2023).

Amber van Wijck: Undergraduate student, probing the evolution of X-ray binaries through their UV spectra (2022-2023).
Rosa Verpoort: Undergraduate student, exploring an unusual X-ray transient in the Galactic center (2023).

Osman Ahmed: PhD student at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), X-ray observations of very-faint X-ray transients (2019-present).

Previous team members:
Postdocs
Juan Hernández Santisteban: UV/optical/nIR observations of accreting black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs (2016-2019). Now lecturer at the University of St. Andrews, Schotland.
Aastha Parikh: X-ray and UV observations of accreting black holes and neutron stars (2019-2020). Now Quantitative Risk Analyst at ABN Amro bank.

PhD candidates
Jakob van den Eijnden: PhD candidate, X-ray/nIR/radio observations of accreting neutron stars (2016-2020). Now Junior Research Fellow at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, UK.
Khaled Alizai: PhD candidate at the Technical University of Denmark, multi-observatory observations of thermonuclear X-ray bursts (2019).

Post-master students
Jari van Opijnen: X-ray/nIR correlation of X-ray binaries (2020-2021).
Elena López Navas: on ERASMUS+ program, X-ray/UV observations of accreting neutron stars and black holes (2018). Now PhD candidate at the University of Valparaiso, Chile.

Master students
2021-2022
Giorgos Zervas Koukogias: Master student, connecting the X-ray spectrum of neutron star X-ray binaries to their radio properties.
Konstantinos Zafeiropoulos: Master student, high-resolution X-ray observations of accretion disk atmospheres and winds in neutron star X-ray binaries.
2020-2021
Luna van Haastere: H-alpha nebulae around X-ray binaries. Now PhD candidate at the University of Leiden, NL.
2019-2020
Mitchell Stoop: X-ray/UV/nIR/radio observations of an accreting black hole candidate. Now PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam.
2018-2019
Maria Georganti: X-ray/UV/nIR observations of a quiescent black hole candidate. Now PhD candidate at the University of Southampton, UK.
Alessio Marino: on ERASMUS+ program, neutron star mass/radius constraints from X-ray observations of quiescent X-ray binaries. Now post-doctoral researcher at the University of Barcelona, Spain.

Undergraduate (bachelor) students
2022
Daan de Rijk: very-faint X-ray transients in the Galactic center.
Sophie Schot: Undergraduate student technical physics at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, the accretion flow of a low-luminosity black hole X-ray binary. Now MSc student at the UvA.
2021
Mees Petrus: the nature of very-faint X-ray transients from their spectra.
Simon van Eeden: the nature of very-faint X-ray transients from their light curves.
2019
Alexis Andres: on ASPIRE program, X-ray flares from the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. Now Master student at UNAM, Mexico.
Jelle Groot: fast transient X-ray events in the center of the Milky Way.
Marieke van Etten: transient X-ray binaries in the Galactic center region.
Stefanie Fijma: X-ray/radio correlation of neutron star X-ray binaries. Now PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam.
Jorinde Kleverlaan: X-ray/radio correlation of neutron star X-ray binaries. Now PhD candidate at the NUI Galway, Ireland.
2018
Levi Kok: fast transient X-ray events in the center of the Milky Way.
Bilal Belhach: X-ray observations of accreting neutron stars.
Mick Rustenburg: optical/nIR observations of an accreting white dwarf.