Dr Prina Patel was born and raised in London, UK. After studying mathematics and physics at college she studied Astrophysics at Edinburgh University. She completed a PhD at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth, her research focused on mapping dark matter in the Universe using the SKA. After completing her PhD, Dr Patel took up a SKA postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Cape Town for 3 years, a position which she has continued with at the University of the Western Cape.