From 2017-2022 I led a Helmholtz Young Investigator Group at DESY Zeuthen and since October 2020 I’m a full professor for multi-wavelength astronomy at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB). I served as the IceCube analysis coordinator (2019-2021) and the multi-messenger co-coordinator of the Zwicky Transient Facility (2019-2022). I coordinated the Fermi-LAT diffuse working group in 2015-2016.

I’m a member of the of the IceCube, Fermi-LAT, CTA, ASAS-SN, ZTF and Large Array Survey Telescope (LAST) collaborations.

Vera is the most important member of the group. She helps us to survive the bureaucracy djungle.

My research focuses on very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, particularly gamma-ray cosmology, blazar science, and the search for astrophysical dark matter. On the technical side, I am interested in developing analysis methods for gamma ray astronomy. I come from a particle physics background: my PhD was on the CDF experiment at the Tevatron, and my first postdoc on the ATLAS experiment at CERN. In 2013, I moved to gamma-ray astronomy via an Irish Research Council Fellowship and then a Marie Curie Fellowship at University Dublin. From 2017-2022 I led a Helmholtz Young Investigator group at DESY Zeuthen, and stayed on as a staff scientist. Since August 2023 I am a staff scientist in the Multimessenger Group at RUB.

I am the PI of the ERC consolidator group Dark100, see https://epuesche.github.io/

In 2020, I graduated with a Bachelor’s in physics from Connecticut College, where I helped to conduct optical monitoring of blazars. I am currently finishing my PhD at the University of Delaware, where I am an active member of both the VERITAS and PANOSETI collaborations. VERITAS studies the extreme universe at very-high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV), and PANOSETI at ultra-high-energy (UHE; E>100 TeV). During my PhD, I prototyped the first gamma-ray analysis pipeline for PANOSETI, and organized two observing campaigns on the Crab Nebula at Lick Observatory in 2024. Using this pipeline, I analyzed the first gamma-ray data taken with these telescopes.

In November 2025, I transitioned to my first postdoc, joining the Multimessenger group at RUB. Here, I am continuing the development of the analysis tools for Dark100, and helping to prepare the deployment of additional PANOSETI telescopes at Palomar Observatory. Using my experience and expertise with PANOSETI, I am also contributing to the development of the gamma-ray science case and software pipeline for the LAST optical polarization survey.

I completed my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at RWTH Aachen University, focusing on experimental astroparticle physics. There, I worked on hardware development and testing for the IceAct telescopes, a compact, cost-effective design of Imaging Air-Cherenkov telescopes installed on top of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory to enable cross-calibration and, ultimately, the veto of atmospheric neutrinos.

Continuing my work within the IceCube Collaboration, I moved to the University of Mainz for my PhD, where I developed the Wavelength-Shifting Optical Module, a novel UV-sensitive photosensor designed for deployment in the IceCube Upgrade. I was involved in the entire development process, from conceptual planning and prototyping to production and acceptance testing, ultimately completing and shipping the modules successfully.

Since May 2025, I have been working in the MM group at RUB on hardware development for the Dark100 project, which aims to search for dark matter by detecting high-energy gamma rays with an array of Fresnel telescopes. I am excited to contribute to these versatile instruments and to explore their potential in gamma-ray physics and beyond.

I joined the RUB MM group in April 2025, as a postdoc in the Dark100 project. I am now involved in the software development for PANOSETI which is an array of Fresnel telescopes capturing Cherenkov light from high-energy gamma-ray showers while searching for signs of extraterrestrial life. I look forward to analysing the data and identifying PeVatrons in the Galaxy. I am particularly excited about what we might discover regarding ultra-heavy dark matter!

I began my physics education at The Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, earning a BSc (Honours) in Physics with a concentration in theoretical physics and astrophysics, focusing my thesis on quantum entanglement in diamonds. Afterward, I pursued a year of postgraduate studies in medical physics and medical chemistry, investigating brain imaging techniques and Alzheimer’s treatment.

I received my MSc in Physics from Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden, where I concentrated on astroparticle physics. My thesis focused on the connection between neutrinos from the blazar TXS 0506+056 and gamma-ray spectra observed by Fermi-LAT. Following this, I completed my Ph.D. in Physics at Uppsala University, Sweden, where I worked with the IceCube Neutrino Telescope. My Ph.D. research focused on multi-messenger astronomy, studying neutrinos across a wide energy range (MeV to PeV) from extreme transient systems like supernovae, neutron star mergers, and GRBs. I developed novel analysis streams for both online and offline MeV neutrino detection, improving IceCube’s ability to respond to supernovae and other astrophysical transient events.

I joined the RUB MM group as a postdoc in October 2024, where my research focuses on exploring supranuclear density systems, such as neutron stars and supernovae, where the nature of matter remains elusive. I am also continuing to work on improving IceCube’s MeV neutrino response to astrophysical events such as supernovae, which could occur galactically at any time. Such an event would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to probe deep into these extreme systems, allowing us to expand our understanding of matter and the nature of the universe.

I have received my bachelor’s and master’s in Physics from the University of São Paulo (USP). In my master’s thesis, I have investigated the sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) to gamma rays originating from dark matter annihilation in Milky Way substructures, which has led to a publication. In 2020, I moved to Germany to start my PhD at the Humboldt University and DESY Zeuthen as a member of the Helmholtz-Weizmann Research School on Multimessenger Astronomy. During my PhD, I have played a key role in the implementation of a new image cleaning technique for the VERITAS telescopes. Additionally, I led the search for very high-energy emission from tidal disruption events (TDEs) and fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) with VERITAS.

Since joining the Multimessenger group at RUB in June 2024, I have focused on very high-energy transient science with the CTAO and on optimising simulations for the observatory. In addition, I will continue leading follow-up observations of TDEs and FBOTs with VERITAS.

My history with the neutrino telescopes’ world has started from the beginning of my scientific career. I spent my PhD and postdoc in Rome working for both the ANTARES and KM3NeT Collaborations. Throughout this time, I contributed to the software development of the KM3NeT-ARCA online system and to follow-up analyses of multi-messenger alerts. Moreover, I also extensively investigated phenomenological models of neutrino emissions from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) in both low- and high-energy domains, and performed high-level statistical data analyses to search for temporal and spatial correlations between GRBs and ANTARES neutrino events.

I am enthusiastic now to have joined the MM group here in Bochum; I feel well-motivated to expand my knowledge and to continue exploiting the potential of multi-messenger observations.

I am currently working on my Bachelor’s thesis at the RUB. I have been interested in astronomy ever since I was a kid, supported by a huge encyclopaedia on stars that my mother gifted me around 2011. Now, I am writing my thesis on modelling radiation processes in AGNs with relativistic jets.

For my first postdoc at the same institute, I continued working with H.E.S.S. data on extragalactic sources. I was the lead author of two H.E.S.S. publications, led the H.E.S.S. contribution to the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) multi-wavelength working group, and heavily contributed to developing the simulation pipeline for CTAO.

In July 2024, I joined the Multimessenger Group at RUB and began expanding into optical astronomy. Here, I will be developing the experimental setup, analysis pipeline, and science case for polarization measurements with the Large Array Survey Telescope (LAST), focusing on AGN science. As a member of the CTAO Consortium, I am particularly interested in understanding the gamma-ray emission of extragalactic sources in a multi-wavelength context.

She started a Humboldt Fellowship in February 2024 at the RUB. With Anna, she now focuses on deep-field optical polarimetry of tidal disruption events (TDEs) and link with neutrinos. She continues her research on GRBs and optical polarimetry (including the LAST)

Emma started her Humboldt Fellowship with Anna on 1 April, 2023. They carry out s tacking analysis of IceCube neutrino data to probe a sample of roughly 300 gamma-ray blazars. Emma is a member of the IceCube Collaboration.

My journey in multi-messenger astronomy began with my bachelor’s thesis in 2020, where I analyzed HXMT X-ray data following the neutrino alert IC190730A. I am currently involved in follow-up campaigns with observatories including FAST (radio), Insight-HXMT (X-ray), and the Lijiang 2.4-meter telescope (optical).

Before joining Anna Franckowiak’s group, I worked at the Astronomical Institute of the Ruhr University on photometry of large-scale structures in galaxies, including the study of the Low Surface Brightness Universe. In my master thesis I worked on the detection of diffuse dust in the disk-halo interface of nearby edge-on galaxies.

In November 2020 Jannis started his PhD in the multi-messenger group as a member of the Helmholtz-Weizmann research school. He expands his work on core-collapse supernovae light curves.

We have already discovered two exciting potential counterparts to these – a TDE (see Robert) and a quite mysterious flare in a Narrow-Line Seyfert Galaxy – stay tuned! I am also focusing on the integration of neutrino and optical candidate correlation schemes into the AMPEL framework, have developed a forced photometry framework for quick retrieval via Slack and work on the ZTF Supernova Ia Sample with the Cosmology Group at Humboldt.

As of January 2021, I entered the Multi-Messenger Group as a postdoc at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, aiming to explore the high-energy neutrino frontier. Here, I have joined the efforts to discover astrophysical sources with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, exploiting the potential of multi-messenger observations.

Starting in February 2020 I am acting as the multi-wavelength/multi-messenger deputy coordinator of MAGIC collaboration and since January 2021, I joined the team of astrophysicists at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) as a postdoctoral fellow. At RUB, we are building and testing a cost-efficient optical telescope with polarization capability using a state-of-art approach. Once the design is approved it will be used as part of the Large Array Survey Telescope (LAST) or the optical support telescope of the future generation of imaging air Cherenkov telescopes.

I’m a member of the MAGIC, Fermi-LAT, and Large Array Survey Telescope (LAST) collaborations.

During his PhD at DESY he worked with Fermi data to look for gamma-ray counterparts of high-energy neutrinos detected by IceCube. Now he is leading the Fermi-LAT flare advocate activities and got involved in optical polarization measurements with LAST.

I joined the Multi-Messenger group in October 2019, and I am currently working on identifying the sources of the astrophysical neutrinos observed by IceCube, whose origin is not yet understood. For that I develop astrophysical simulations involving high-performance numerical algorithms and machine learning, and I work closely with my experimental IceCube colleagues in understanding the analysis of the observational data.

I work with Massimiliano on a search for high-energy neutrinos with IceCube from the direction of the peculiar supernova iPTF14hls.

My research specialism is Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs), which can occur when a star passes close to a Super Massive Black Hole. If the Star passes between the tidal radius and the event horizon of the Black Hole, the star is torn into two halves. One half is accreted by the black hole, while the other half is ejected. The entire process can be highly luminous, allowing us to detect it on Earth. Though we have not observed many TDEs (so far less than 100 have been discovered), the ones we have found are extremely energetic. Though the physics mechanisms are not well understood, they are likely to be strong particle accelerators. This makes them an interesting potential candidate for the source of high energy neutrinos that we detect on Earth. My analysis is based on a multi-messenger approach, trying to correlate neutrinos from IceCube to TDE sources detected with telescopes (such as ASAS-SN or ZTF).

Shan works on the code optimization, developing interface to couple the code with other simulation software and using big simulation data and machine learning technology to search for promising neutrino source candidates.

At DESY I am working on a novel transient pipeline for ZTF allowing for data processing and event selection, designed to be automated and adaptive to manage the large number of expected transient detections. The pipeline will enable multiple analyses starting from target of opportunity observations for multi-messenger astronomy to a magnitude limited and complete transient catalogue.