From Navi Mumbai to Oxford, scientist chases solar dream

Growing up in Nerul, Dr Anishkumar Soman’s interest in science was nurtured by conversations with his father, who worked at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), during their Mumbai local train journeys. Visits to the city’s planetarium and science centre further fuelled his curiosity, eventually taking him from Mumbai to research institutions in the US and now the University of Oxford.

Dr Soman joined Oxford on September 1 after securing a fellowship under the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme. He will research tandem solar cells, which combine different light-absorbing materials to generate more electricity from the same panel area.

The fellowship is part of the EU’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. Dr Soman said his proposal scored about 98% in a selection process that received more than 17,000 applications worldwide. It was approved on February 9.

As a kid, I was always fascinated by the fact that sunlight, a never-ending power source, could be used to generate electricity,” he said.