Sunset by the “kvinna vid havet ”, which literally means “woman by the sea”, and is the symbol of mothers/women that were waiting for their husbands/sons sailing. I took this using a 400mm mirror lens, and Canon90D.

A glimpse of biography

My name is Navid ([næ’viːd], نوید ), and in Persian it means good news! I did my bachelor and master studies in my hometown Shiraz , at Shiraz university . Starting the bachelor, I got very interested in astronomy, and therefore, most of my time was spent at Biruni observatory , which had (not anymore! ) the largest professional telescope of Iran. I worked on variable stars photometry during that time and was imagining my future as an astronomy professor. However, life pushed me in another direction and I persued my master studies at complex systems group at Shiraz university. For my master thesis I worked on anomalous diffusion of tracers in random velocity fields. A brief summary can be found in here . Starting my PhD in the beginning of 2020, under supervision of Kristian Gustavsson , at the physics department of Gothenburg university , I have been working on somewhat similar project to my master thesis. However, it is much more realistic. I work on active particles swimming strategies in turbulent flows. My work, includes fluid mechanics, active matter, non-equilibrium physics, and machine learning. Also, since my studies are mainly focused on Plankton, I would dare to say it touches biology as well (I do not want to make biologists angry !).

The PhD in Sweden is divided into two parts. The first part, known as the Licentiate, takes 24-30 months to complete and is a recognized degree in Sweden. This involves writing a thesis and having a less formal defense with an opponent. I completed my Licentiate degree in June 2022 with Enrico Calzavarini as my opponent. You can check out my Licentiate thesis here .
Two years leater, on May 27, 2024, I defended my doctoral thesis with Holger Stark as the opponent. The defense committee members were Ann Larsson , Enrico Calzavarini , and Federico Toschi . The recording of my defense presentation can be found here , and the thesis is publicly accessible through Gothenburg University’s library website here .

Apart from physics, I am interested in philosophy, photography, and cooking, also who isn’t intrigued by politics ;-)?
My reading interests include philosophy in general, with a particular focus on the philosophy of science and the history of philosophy and science. In photography, I am passionate about astrophotography, which stems from my love for astronomy. Since my career shift, astrophotography has been my way of staying connected to the stars. While there are many great astrophotographers, Babak Tafreshi stands out to me. Unfortunately, Sweden’s often cloudy skies limit my opportunities to capture the night sky. This led to my interest in street photography in 2022. In this genre, I admire Henri Cartier-Bresson , known for his book The Decisive Moment . Among contemporary photographers, I enjoy Alan Schaller ’s work, particularly his mastery in illustrating contrast. You can find some of my photos in the Photography tab. Also, I occasionally share photos on Instagram and Flickr .

I write blog-posts, every now and then, which can be found in Blog .