Rate My Professor Jan Conrad

Jan Conrad is Professor of Astroparticle Physics in the Department of Physics at Stockholm University. He leads the Dark Matter and Astroparticle Physics (DMAP) group and has served as Head of Department (prefekt) at Fysikum. His research focuses on astrophysical searches for particle dark matter, encompassing indirect detection with gamma-ray telescopes including the Fermi Large Area Telescope, H.E.S.S., and preparations for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), as well as direct detection experiments such as XENON1T, XENONnT, DARWIN, and axion dark matter searches using resonant cavities like ALPHA. Conrad collaborates on statistical methods and inference tools like GAMBIT, addressing challenges in analyzing rare events from low-background detectors and connecting elementary particle physics, astrophysics, and statistics.

Conrad obtained his PhD in High Energy Physics from Uppsala University in 2003. Earlier in his career, he contributed to the AMANDA/IceCube neutrino telescope from 1999 to 2003, CERN's ALICE detector from 2004 to 2005, and the PAMELA cosmic-ray experiment in 2006-2007. He served as guest professor in Stockholm University's mathematics department from 2015 to 2018 and is Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. A Wallenberg Academy Fellow and former member of the Young Academy of Sweden (2011-2014), Conrad has produced key publications including 'Searching for new phenomena with profile likelihood ratio tests' (Nature Reviews Physics, 2020), 'Light Dark Matter Search with Ionization Signals in XENON1T' (Physical Review Letters, 2019), 'Dark Matter Search Results from a One Ton-Year Exposure of XENON1T' (Physical Review Letters, 2018), and 'Stochastic amplitude fluctuations of bosonic dark matter and revised constraints on linear couplings' (2021). His contributions have shaped dark matter phenomenology and experimental strategies worldwide.