Advent calendar - December 18th - Akram Abbasnia

In the Zernike Institute Advent Calendar, we are presenting 24 short spotlights in December. In these specials, we highlight PhD students, postdocs, support staff and technicians of our research groups and team - providing a glimpse into their typical day at work. In Episode 18 meet Akram Abbasnia, PhD researcher in the Micromechanics group of Dr. Andrea Giuntoli.

I’m a PhD researcher at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, working in the Micromechanics Department under the supervision of Andrea Giuntoli. My project focuses on understanding how different properties — such as dynamical, structural, mechanical, or rheological behaviour — are connected in branched polymer systems, and how these properties emerge from their underlying architecture. To explore these links, I develop simulation-driven datasets and use them to train machine-learning models that uncover hidden patterns, identify key structural parameters, and map how the design space evolves when we tweak different features of the polymer.

Most mornings start with checking whether the simulations and training runs I left overnight behaved as expected — or decided to create some unexpected “modern art” in the results folder — usually meaning the simulation diverged and produced strange particle patterns or chaotic structures that were definitely not part of the plan. After that, the day usually moves into updating scripts, refining pipelines, and analysing whatever the latest batch of particles has been doing. I enjoy the detective-work feeling of digging through messy data, spotting connections that weren’t obvious at first glance, and figuring out how small structural changes ripple through the entire system.

Another important part of my daily routine is staying up to date with new research. I try to dedicate part of each day to reading fresh papers, following new developments in the field, and seeing how other researchers approach similar challenges. At the same time, I enjoy revisiting older, more fundamental studies — the kind of work that may be decades old but still explains the essential principles better than anything else. That combination of new insights and foundational knowledge often sparks ideas that feed directly back into my own project.

One of the highlights of my week is our Friday group meeting. All of us, along with our supervisor, gather to share progress, surprising results, or challenges we’re stuck in. These sessions are a mix of scientific problem-solving and friendly discussion, and they often lead to creative ideas or unexpected solutions. It’s genuinely one of the most enjoyable collective activities of the whole week.

Outside the scientific side of things, I try to keep my energy balanced. Twice a week I spend the evening with a supportive and lively community — sometimes with games, sometimes music, sometimes a bit of dancing — which helps me reset and come back to research with fresh focus. Altogether, it gives me the reset I need to jump back into the scientific chaos with a clearer head.

See all Advent Calendar items 2025 here!