Dr Akshay Priyadarshi

Statistics · Astrophysics · Data Science

Dr Akshay Priyadarshi
Manchester, UK
Professional Journey

Experience

2017 – Present
Mar 2026 – ongoing

Senior Statistician

Office for National Statistics

Aug 2025 – Mar 2026

Senior Executive Officer – Senior Data Analyst

UK Civil Service

Feb 2022 – Jun 2024

Graduate Teaching Assistant

The University of Manchester

Taught physics courses, including computational physics, led lab demonstrations, conducted interviews, and graded assignments.

Dec 2018 – Jan 2021

Visiting Student

IUCAA, Pune, India

Selected for the Vacation Students' Programme (VSP) 2020. Worked on characterising quasars into BAL, emerging-BAL, and non-BAL quasars.

May 2018 – Jul 2018

Summer Research Intern

Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati

Investigated the optical limiting and spectroscopic properties of SiOx thin films.

May 2017 – Jul 2017

Summer Research Intern

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Analysed the optical spectroscopic properties of Pentacene thin films.

Academic Background

Education

2016 – 2025
2021 – 2025

PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics

University of Manchester

Funded by UKRI-STFC scholarship

2016 – 2021

Integrated MSc in Physics & minor in Computer Science

NISER Bhubaneswar, India

Funded by DST-INSPIRE scholarship

Portfolio

Featured Projects

TransitFit visualisation
JBCA, University of Manchester · 2022 – ongoing

TransitFit Python Package

Developed "TransitFit", a tool for exoplanet transmission spectroscopy. Enables detection of atmospheric molecules and determination of physical parameters in exoplanets.

View on GitHub
Exoplanet demographics
JBCA, University of Manchester · 2021 – ongoing

Exoplanet Demographics Study

Building a statistical tool to simulate planets around stars, estimating the number and characteristics of undetected planets to optimise future observations and planet formation theories.

NISER Bhubaneswar · 2020 – 2021

Exoplanet Atmosphere Simulation

Modelled the atmosphere and simulated observations to predict the existence of HC₃N in a Super-Earth exoplanet GJ1132 b.

Read Publication
Linear regression model
NISER Bhubaneswar · 2020 – 2021

ML for Dark Matter Detection

Compared ML algorithms (Random Forest, SVM, Linear Regression, Neural Networks) to improve accuracy of signal retrieval using Linear Regression and Random Forests.

View Report
Personal Project

Football Match Data Visualisation

Data analysis and visualisation tool for football matches using Python. Shot maps and passing networks using matplotlib and mplsoccer with ML techniques for data binarisation and feature encoding.

View on GitHub
Personal Project

summarAIser: AI Research Assistant

Engineered an AI research assistant that utilises RAG, arXiv-API, and Gemini-API to fetch, summarise, and validate academic papers. Designed to help researchers stay up-to-date with latest developments.

View on GitHub
Buy/sell signals
Personal Project

Quantitative Stock & Options Analysis

Rebalanced portfolio using efficient frontier charts. Built trading bot with Alpaca-API based on momentum data, generating 27% alpha after backtesting. Monte Carlo simulation and VaR95 analysis.

View on GitHub
Expertise

Skills & Certifications

15 skills · 12 certifications
Python Machine Learning Data Visualisation Statistical Analysis LaTeX GitHub scikit-learn pandas seaborn matplotlib scipy numpy selenium dynesty beautifulsoup4
Research Output

Publications

Selected works
  1. Technique-agnostic exoplanet demography for the Roman era
  2. Transit Timing and an Optical Transmission Spectrum of the Hot Jupiter WASP-11 b The Astronomical Journal, 2026
  3. The Transit Timing and Transmission Spectrum of Hot Jupiter WASP-43 b The Astronomical Journal, 2026
  4. Transit Timing Variation of K2-237b: Hints Toward Planet Disk Migration MNRAS Letters, 2024
  5. TransitFit: combined multi-instrument exoplanet transit fitting for JWST, HST, and ground-based transmission spectroscopy studies MNRAS, 2023
  6. Revisiting the Transit Timing and Atmosphere Characterisation of the Neptune-mass Planet HAT-P-26 b The Astronomical Journal, 2023
  7. Detectable Abundance of Cyanoacetylene (HC3N) Predicted on Reduced Nitrogen-rich Super-Earth Atmospheres The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2021
Recognition

Honours & Awards

 

UKRI-STFC Scholarship

Scholarship for PhD studies. View details →

 

DST-INSPIRE Scholarship

5-year scholarship and contingency grant, given to a limited number of students, to facilitate and promote science education.

Jul 2020

Silver Honour

International Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition

Scored 92 percentile globally.

May 2020

Finalist

IISER Tirupati, Abhiprajna

Selected among the top 6 teams from India, in an astronomy themed science competition.

Community

Outreach & Leadership

Learning Support Volunteer at Science & Industry Museum, Manchester. 2026-ongoing.
Conference session organiser at National Astronomy Meeting 2024, Hull
UKEXOM, 2024: Presented exoplanet demographics study
UK National Astronomy Meeting, 2023: Presented exoplanet demographics study
European Astronomical Meeting, 2023: Presented TransitFit
Strange New Worlds Conference, 2023: Presented exoplanet demographics study
JACS officer (2021-2023): Coordinated computing seminars at Manchester's Astrophysics dept
Presented talk on habitable exoplanets at Pint of Science 2023
Hosted a JWST workshop at UKSEDS 2023
Exhibited at the JWST stand in the Bluedot festival, 2021
Correspondence

Let's Connect

I'm always open to discussing research, collaborations, or opportunities.