Dr Sotiria Fotopoulou

  • Dr Sotiria Fotopoulou
    Lecturer

Biography

I lead the D.I.AN.A group at the University of Bristol. We use large multiwavelength datasets to understand the impact of supermassive black holes in the evolution of galaxies. We develop automated methods for creating high-fidelity multiwavelength datasets, harness machine-learning methods for object classification & physical parameter estimation, and explore the impact of AGN in galaxy evolution through the statistical analysis of large datasets.

I obtained my undergraduate BSc and MSc in Physics with Specialization in Astrophysics from the University of Athens, Greece (2002-2009). I then went on to the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) and Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany from 2009-2012 where I obtained my PhD.

Following my PhD I was a postdoc at the University of Generva from 2013 to 2017. I was awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship (2017 - 2019) working at Durham University, UK, and then a Vice-Chancellor's Fellowship to work at the University of Bristol until 2023 when I became a Lecturer at Bristol.

Research interests

Currently, I am interested in the developing AI methods with applications to galaxy and AGN physics. Developments on Simulation-Based Inference and other AI approaches are unlocking processing of large datasets at unprecedented speed. I have worked across supervised and unsupervised methods, and in 2024 I published a review on the topic. I am also interested in the impact of AGN on the evolution of galaxies and the large-scale structure of the Universe. I have been one of the co-leads of the AGN Work Package in Euclid (2019-2025), and lead co-author of many Q1 publications.

Current researchers and PhD students

Former researchers and PhD students at Bristol

  • Grant Stevens (PhD 2020 - 2024, now an EPSRC Fellow in her group)
  • Matt Selwood (PhD 2020 - 2024, now working in the Industry)
  • Myank Singhal (MScR 2020 - 2021, currently PhD student in Czechia)
  • Ben Rouse (MScR 2019 - 2021, currently PhD student in Chile)