From bright stars to dark energy

Dr Rita Tojeiro was recently awarded one of five 2015 L’Oréal-UNESCO UK & Ireland Women In Science Fellowships, worth £15,000, to drive her research on dark energy forward. We caught up with her to find out more…  

Congratulations on your recent win – how does it feel? Thank you. It was a genuine privilege to be amongst the eight finalists and that felt very special. Winning the actual award was mostly a surprise and a bit of a shock, but I’m learning to enjoy the exposure and recognition.

Why do you think awards like the L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women In Science are important? There are two important sides to these awards. The first one is the financial contribution - it is completely flexible and that makes it particularly helpful. It is definitely having a tangible effect on my career already, as I find myself able to attend important research conferences without having to worry about funds for travel or extra childcare. The other side to these awards is the exposure. Women are vastly under-represented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. This creates an environment that is (correctly) perceived to be male-dominated by many young girls, as well as their parents and teachers. I believe that an effective way to encourage the next generation of women scientists to fulfil their potential is to change that perception. Awards such as the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowships can help us do that.

Your research currently focuses on dark energy. Could you tell us about it? At the moment we know very little about dark energy – which is what makes it such a fascinating and popular subject. What we do know, since 1998, is that the Universe’s expansion appears to be accelerating, and it’s this phenomenon that we called dark energy. Given the components of the Universe known at the time, and the laws of gravity as laid down by General Relativity, the expansion of the Universe should be doing exactly the opposite – decelerating. So this seemingly simple observation asked for one of two things: either an unknown component to the Universe that behaves in an entirely new way, or a revision of the laws of gravity. Trying to distinguish between these two alternatives is difficult, but it will inevitably lead to new physics and that is why it is so fascinating!

Tell us about the specific work that won you the award. I work with large surveys of galaxies – vast observational programmes ran by international collaborations, which map out the accurate three-dimensional positions of millions of galaxies across the Universe. Using these positions we can infer the invisible three-dimensional skeleton of our Universe, and how it has evolved over cosmic history. In the absence of dark energy, its evolution would be completely dominated by gravity but we can actually see the effect of dark energy with striking clarity and therefore use these maps to test different theoretical propositions for the nature of dark energy. The specific work that won this award is about how to use the best possible combination of galaxies (which in turn come in various sizes, colours and shapes) for making these three-dimensional maps.

How will you be using the funding? I will mostly be using the funding for travelling to conferences and research visits, and to arrange for extra childcare when needed. I am particularly enjoying the room in the budget to book flights that don’t force me to sacrifice family time and, for example, not travel on weekends when it is often cheaper.

Any advice for young female scientists? My advice for young scientists is the same regardless of their gender: be persistent and always let your curiosity drive you. A good scientist works primarily to satisfy their own curiosity, so nurture it!