Mirjana Pović

Mirjana Pović (born 8 August 1981) is a Serbian astrophysicist who works on galaxy formation and evolution at the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute. She was the inaugural laureate of the Nature - Estée Lauder Inspiring Science Award.

Early life and education Pović was born in Pančevo, Serbia. She was only nine years old when the war in Serbia began. She became interested in astronomy as a child, and hitchhiked to attend her classes. She studied physics at the University of Belgrade, where she was awarded a full scholarship and earned her degree in 2005. For her doctorate she used the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray Observatories. Pović defended her thesis on active galactic nuclei in 2010. During her PhD she volunteered in Tanzania and Kenya, and became "amazed by Africa's beauty and diversity". She was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2010, before returning to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in 2011. She became involved with the African Network for Astronomy School Education in 2012.

Research and career Pović works on the formation and evolution of galaxies. To study these galaxies, Pović uses planetary surveys such as the Advanced Large Homogeneous Area Medium-Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA). She investigates the star formation rate and mass-metallicity. She is an affiliated researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía. Pović joined the Association of Women Researchers and Technologists in 2013. She has been involved with the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI) since it was established. She was responsible for training the first generation of postgraduate astronomy students in astronomy, including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

That year she began to coordinate the African countries program of the Network for Astronomy School Education in 2016. She believes that scientists should spend more time connecting to the developing world. She leads science clubs and lecture series for secondary-school girls in Ethiopia. She has said she will use the €10,000 award money to build networks between women scientists in Ethiopia. She is a member of the International Astronomical Union.