Mykyta Kliapets
Kavli Scholar
Born and raised in Kyiv, Kliapets enrolled at KU Leuven with plans to return home after earning his master’s degree in space studies. When the war in Ukraine began, it forced him to reevaluate his plans, and so he decided to remain in Belgium to pursue another master’s – this one in artificial intelligence. He hopes to develop his academic career in machine learning and data science in astrophysics. He is sponsored by KU Leuven Professor Conny Aerts, 2022 Kavli Prize Laureate in Astrophysics.
“Being a Kavli Scholar means being able to pursue my dream, which is to do research in space science,” said Kliapets. “Space science in particular holds a very special place amongst the scientific fields. Though it’s true for all science that if you contribute something, you contribute to the scientific picture of the world, which leads to better education, which is then a self-feeding process that leads to more science, more technology, a better society. But space is special in a way that it’s also very inspiring. It fascinates people.”
