Veronika Kuchta received her Diploma degree in Mathematics at the Heidelberg University in Germany in 2010. She reseived her PhD in applied cryptography at the University of Surrey, United Kingdom in 2016. She worked as a postdoc at the Universite libre de Bruxelles in Belgium from 2016-2018. From 2018 till 2020 she has been a Research Fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. FromDecember 2020 to July 2022 she was employed by The University of Queensland, School of Mathematics and Physics as a lecturer in mathematical cryptography. From November 2022 she is Assistant Professor at Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, USA), department of mathematical sciences. Her research interst focus on the different areas of mathematical cryptography, post-quantum cryptography and its applications to the real-world.
I am a Cosmologist studying the properties of the Universe on the largest scales.
By mapping the positions of millions of galaxies, I investigate the unknown physics of the dark energy which drives the evolution of the Universe today, and the physics just after the Big Bang, when the ripples which grew under gravity to become galaxies were created.
I am actively participating in the key experiments designed to understand dark energy and gravity. I am co-chair of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) lensing working group, and an active member of the Vera Rubin Observatory (LSST) and the Dark Energy Survey (DES). In the past, I had led science with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, one of the major quests of contemporary physics that has spurred advancement in answering a range of fundamental questions about the origins of the universe.
I am passionate about communicating top-level research ideas to audiences outside our immediate academic sub-community. I have experience on a variety of media, including radio, public talks and lectures to local schools, science festivals and amateur astronomy groups, outreach activities at Stargazing Live events, as well as through written pieces.
I am an advocate for making STEM field accessible to everyone. During my career, I took part into different initiatives aiming to reduce structural barriers faced by different minorities in academia and inspire the next generation of STEM careers. I am part of the Women in Science Association with the aim to foster a community for young women in STEM, within and beyond the academic community. I worked and volunteered at N.G.O. centres, in Italy and Australia supporting young students to overcome educational inequality caused by poverty and other conditions.
Since 2021 I am on the Early Career Chapter committee for the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) to promote and assist the career development of early and mid-career researchers in the Australian astronomy community. I am also part of the Wellbeing ambassador program at University of Queensland, to promote and assist the career development of early and mid-career researchers in the Australian astronomy community.
