Narjiss Messied

PhD student in the “Space Interferometry” group

What is your current position at our institute?

I’m a PhD student in the Space Interferometry group

What is your academic education?

2015-2018: BSc in Physics, University of Mouloud Mammeri, Algeria
2018-2019: BSc in Fundamental Physics, Sorbonne University, France
2019-2020: Master1 in Fundamental Physics, Sorbonne University,France
2020-2021: Master2 in Cosmos,Fields and Particles, University of Montpellier, France

How would you described your research to scientists from other fields?

My PhD work is in the context of the LISA project, which is a mission that plans to detect the consequences of the presence of massive celestial objects such as black holes. We usually call those consequences “gravitational waves” Such a phenomenon requires sensitive instruments, accurate measurements and adding to that, a layer of post-processing, and that’s where my work lies. I aim to improve the pipeline (INREP=Initial Noise Reduction Pipeline) that will process data from the LISA mission once in orbit. For now, this pipeline takes input data from simulators that mimic LISA. For this purpose I’m working on the experimental side of the mission where the performance of the instruments is tested, which gives me access to real data that I can plug in a new version of INREP pipeline to show that this latter can process more realistic data.

Please let us know why you chose the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics for your research.

Adding to the joyful work environment that the AEI offers, surrounding myself with such competent researchers that the institute houses and learning from them will help me to grow my knowledge and experience of the domain. “Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge” said Stephen Hawking. I hope and inspire to be more involved in this quest.

What would you recommend to a young woman wanting to start a career in physics?

Give it a try. It may look difficult, well it is, but you’ll find great satisfaction in understanding the slightest sentence, equation, line of code.