Abubakr Ibrahim

About Abubakr

Born and raised under the vast skies of a sugar-cane town called Kenana in Sudan, my early years were filled with stars and uninterrupted nights that naturally sparked a profound curiosity about the universe beyond our world. This childhood fascination, initially an unnamed wonder, gradually led me into a desire to understand the universe through scientific inquiry.

My academic journey began at Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan, where I pursued a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy and Meteorology. While this laid my foundational knowledge, like many aspiring scientists in Sudan, I encountered significant hurdles: limited research infrastructure and restricted access to international scientific networks. Rather than stopping me, these challenges just lit a fire under me, strengthening my resolve to dive deeper into astrophysics and become part of the global scientific community.

This determination guided me beyond Sudan. I continued my studies in South Africa, where I earned both my Honours of Science (B.Sc.H) and a Master of Science (M.Sc) in Astrophysics and Space Science from the University of Cape Town. My Master's thesis, "Dispersion measure variations in pulsar observations with LOFAR", marked my first significant engagement with pulsars and low-frequency radio astronomy. My journey then led me to Spain, where I completed my PhD in Astrophysics at the Institute of Space Science (ICE-CSIC) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in October 2024. My doctoral research, "Search for transient events and pulsars in multi-frequency data", sharpened my expertise in studying extreme astrophysical phenomena like magnetars through multi-wavelength observations using space and ground-based telescopes such as XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, ASKAP, and VLA.

While my core scientific pursuits lie in unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos, I am equally passionate about making science accessible, particularly to communities facing adversity. I am proud to co-lead the Photon Scientific Centre for Natural Sciences and Metaphysics (Photon SCNSM) in Sudan. This initiative, which I helped establish, aims to support physics and astronomy education for Sudanese students and researchers affected by ongoing conflict in Sudan, helping them keep their scientific dreams alive even when things are incredibly hard. This work truly comes from the heart; it connects me to where I'm from and reminds me of what I hope to give back.

I truly believe that science has this incredible power–not just to explain the cosmos, but to bring people together, no matter their borders, languages, or struggles. Through both my research and my outreach efforts, I hope to keep building those vital connections: bridging questions with answers, and linking the distant stars with the hopeful faces looking up at them.