Dr. Kavita A. Pandey

Kavita Pandey holds a Master’s (2011) and PhD degree (2016) in Physics, both obtained in India. During her PhD, she spent six months as a Newton Bhabha Fellow in Fraser Armstrong’s group at the University of Oxford. She then went on to work at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) to investigate the in-situ electrochemical processes inside a live battery using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). She then re-joined the Armstrong group in 2018 as an awardee of a SERB Overseas Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Indian Government. Her project in the Armstrong group brings together enzymology, catalysis and electronics, specifically by exploiting the power of impedance spectroscopy to investigate the internal charge-transfer properties of enzymes that enable them to be highly efficient and reversible electrocatalysts. Currently, she is exploring the use of electrochemical tools alongside developing and applying methods for the fabrication of advanced functional interfaces for energy storage, molecular detection, diagnostic, and imaging methodologies.

The main achievements/strengths of her research experience can be summarised as follows:
- Several research articles in well recognized peer-reviewed international journals that have granted her national and international recognition in the fields of electrochemistry and physics of various (bio) optoelectronic and energy storage devices.
- 8 International fellowships/awards, including Newton Bhabha fellowship, Fulbright Postdoctoral fellowship, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence Award, etc.
- More than six years of continuous upgrading in teaching, research skills, and research leadership,
- A strong inclination & capacity for teamwork and a growing establishment of fruitful international collaborations

Apart from the scientific achievements, she regularly engages in outreach activities to promote STEM education. She is one of the co-founders of the India-UK Innovation and Sustainability Chemistry Consortium, funded jointly by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the British Council (https://indouk-iscc.net/).

Career Overview

• Scientist C, Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, India (2020-Present)
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Oxford, UK (2019-2020)
• SERB Overseas Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Oxford, UK (2018-2019)
• Postdoctoral Researcher, EPFL, Switzerland (2016-2017)
• Newton Bhabha Fellow, University of Oxford, UK (2015-2016)
• Visiting Researcher, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan (2014-2014)

Education

• Ph.D. in Physics, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gujarat, India (2012-2016)
• M.Sc. in Electronic Science (Physics Major), Gujarat University, India (2009-2011)
• B.Sc. in Electronic Science (Physics Major), Gujarat University, India (2006-2009)