Dr Kaustubh Adhikari

Professional biography

PhD in Biostatistics, Harvard University.
M.Sc. in Biostatistics, Harvard University.
M.Stat. in Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute.
B.Stat. in Statistics, Indian Statistical Institute.

Postdoctoral Research Associate, University College London.

Research interests

The main area of my research is Statistical Genetics. My research interests on human genetics can be split into two major avenues:  

• Population genetics of admixed human populations, such as Latin America and South Asia.
• The genetics of human appearance and normal physical variation, such as facial morphology or pigmentation. I study these through genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and build prediction models for forensic reconstruction.

In these contexts, I study signals of natural selection and evolution, such as the evolution of light skin in Eurasia. 

I’m looking into developing computational methods to address big data problems in high-dimensional genetic and phenotypic data.

A key focus of my work is increasing the diversity of genetics research, by looking at other diverse human populations outside of the Eurocentric emphasis in most GWAS studies

Impact and engagement

I have a keen interest in public engagement on statistics and statistical genetics, in particular about their misuse and misunderstandings. 

• I am the Statistics consultant for the BBC radio program ‘More or Less’.
• I present Masterclasses on Statistics at the Royal Institution.
• I have written popular science articles at The Conversation and on OpenLearn.
• My forensics research have been featured on ‘DNA+’, a BBC documentary exploring modern genetics.