Hyderabad: Stephy Jose, a PhD student from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Hyderabad, has been awarded the prestigious Schmidt Science Fellowship — a global programme that supports young scientists who want to work across disciplines and tackle real-world challenges.
At TIFR, Stephy studied active matter systems.” They include things like living cells, bacteria, or a flock of birds — all of which move on their own and interact with each other. Her research focused on how such self-moving entities group together, form patterns, and organise themselves, even without any central control. Using physics-based models, she tried to understand the simple rules behind these complex behaviours.
Her work has helped lay the foundation for how scientists can make sense of collective behaviour in nature. With this fellowship, she plans to apply her knowledge to biology — especially to understand how cells behave in our bodies.
“I want to study how cells move and organise into tissues — something that happens during embryo development, wound healing, and even cancer. By combining physics and biology, I believe we can find new ways to understand and maybe even influence these processes,” Stephy said.
The Schmidt Science Fellowship provides funding for up to two years of postdoctoral research and includes a leadership programme. Stephy now joins a select group of young scientists from around the world who are using interdisciplinary science to solve some of today’s biggest problems.
