Valeria Pettorino

    Euclid Project Scientist

     

    Main Research Fields

    I am a physicist, and I work as Euclid Project Scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA).

    After my PhD (Naples, Italy, 2005), I worked in Torino, Trieste (Italy), Heidelberg (Germany), New York (USA), Geneva (Switzerland), back to Heidelberg as Research Group Leader. I got a permanent position at CEA Paris-Saclay (France) in 2016. I joined ESA in 2023. 

    My main expertise is in cosmology, astrophysics and space science, bridging between theory and observations. I have worked for ESA Planck and ESA Euclid space missions, as a scientist and project manager. I have experience in research, science diplomacy, data science, communication, agile management and event organization.

     

    Email  •  Personal Website  • Personal LinkedIn


    Keywords

    Dark Energy, Modified Gravity, Cosmology, Space Science, Space Diplomacy. 

    Publications

    My publications can be found on ORCiD.

    Project/mission at ESA

    I joined ESA in 2023 as Euclid Project Scientist. 

    I have been a member of the Euclid Consortium (former DUNE) since 2007, and, before joining ESA, I contributed to different teams, as a scientist, and a project manager. I was very much involved in the Theory Science Working Group (also as deputy lead). I led a team in charge of forecasting Euclid performance on different theories of the Universe. Later on, I led the Inter Science Taskforce on Likelihood, a team at the interface across different science working groups. Over the years I also volunteered for service tasks related to the organisation of such a large Consortium: Early Career Committee, Builder Committee, Communication, Euclid Prize Committee.

    My present responsibilities include:

    2023 - Project Scientist for the ESA Euclid space mission. The project scientist is in charge of maximising the scientific outcome of a mission. This implies monitoring operations and their impact on the scientific output of the mission, verify that scientific requirements are met, coordinate the data releases of the mission and make sure that the community can benefit from Euclid data products. 

     

    Other Initiatives

    Here are different initiatives for which I volunteer. They remind me that there are many interesting things and people in life, with different competences, challenges and passions.

    Science Diplomacy

    I am Alumna of the Marie Curie Alumni Association, S4D4C, InsSciDE and GESDA science diplomacy training and networks. I am an invited member (in my personal capacity) of a Science Diplomacy Working Group: its focus is on “Strengthening science diplomacy in EU and Member States’ delegations and embassies and fostering the EU’s global science diplomacy outreach.” Each working group is composed of approximately 20 members, roughly half of them coming from the science sphere and half of them from the diplomacy sphere.

    Promoting Women Talents, equal opportunities and early career researchers

    I have been a founding mentor of the Supernova Foundation since 2015: it’s a worldwide mentoring and networking programme for women in physics, led by Michelle Lochner and by a group of colleagues devoting their time to an initiative which helps women in science of over 50 countries to connect. In 2023 I also volunteered as a mentor for Space4Women, an initiative of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to promote the benefits of space and STEM careers to encourage women and girls to pursue these fields.

    Since 2020 I have been board member and Vice President of DIRE, a network of Italian women in Paris, with different professions: with the board I co-organise events related to science, art, literature, society, music, sport. DIRE aims, among other things, to enhance the role of women, encourage professional and personal exchanges between members, in collaboration with the Italian Consulate in Paris and with other professional associations.

    Data Science

    I was board member of the EuroPython Society from 2017 to 2019, appointed Fellow in 2021; the program is meant to support applications of python programming language in all fields, within academia and industry.

    I am Alumna of Science to Data Science training on data science in healthcare.