In the second week of February, the National Agency for Research and Development, ANID, announced the results of the National Doctoral Scholarship competition for the 2021 academic year. Aurora Aguayo, Javier Arancibia and Felipe Lagos, all PhD candidates of the Institute of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Valparaiso and members of the Millennium Nucleus of Planetary Formation, were selected on this occasion, being part of the 852 students who will be able to pursue doctoral studies in Chile funded by this scholarship.

In her thesis, Aurora Aguayo investigates the interaction between brown dwarfs –very low-mass stars– and the protoplanetary disks that surround them in their early stages. Such disks are also studied around more massive stars.  In addition,for more massive stars, she investigates the structures that these disks present and whether these are due to the presence of planets in formation or other observational effects.

On the other hand, the research project of Javier Arancibia focuses on the study of groups of young stars and their evolution. In particular, in understanding the processes that occur in their interior, such as the transport of mass and/or energy, and the effects that the rotation of the stars has on them. 

Finally, the work of Felipe Lagos focuses on the evolution of multiple stellar systems, as well as on the survival of planets after their host star becomes a white dwarf -the final stage in the evolution of low-mass stars.

According to ANID’s website, there was a high number of selected applications in the area of Natural and Exact Sciences. It is followed by the areas of Social Sciences and Humanities, and Engineering and Technology.