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ESA/Webb Outreach Team

The content developed and published at ESAWebb.org is prepared by a talented international group of individuals, known as the ESA/Webb outreach team. Below you can learn more about them:

Bethany Downer ESA/Webb Chief Science Communications Officer As the Chief Communications Officer for ESA/Webb, Bethany coordinates the talented and international ESA/Webb outreach team. Working from her hometown of St. John’s in Newfoundland, Canada, she works as a public communicator for space to bring space and astronomy to the general public. She works for various international space organizations to coordinate high-impact outreach campaigns and to find means of innovatively communicating scientific and technical space topics to broader audiences. Bethany believes that being inspired and excited by the space sector starts with a strong awareness and comprehension, which stems from effective communications and outreach.
Oana Sandu ESA/Webb Social Media Coordinator Oana Sandu is the founder of PR agency Science Wave and a communication expert for science and technology with more than 11 years of experience. Together with a team based in Romania, they bring ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb closer to the public via social media.
Javier Enciso Web Team Javier is a Computer Scientist from the National University of Colombia and holds a Master of Science from the Technical University of Munich. Over the years, he has worked at Big Tech companies and preeminent research organizations in Colombia, China, Germany and USA. Currently, he spends most of his time with his wife and three daughters, while being CEO of the amazing team at Enciso Systems, the company in charge of ESA/Webb’s web content and development support teams.
Mahdi Zamani Image Processing & Metadata Processing astronomical images during the day and photographing starry sky at night, Mahdi Zamani is an artist and image specialist who turns scientific observations by the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes into breathtaking images as part of the public outreach team. Mahdi's goals have always been helping the public on a global scale with a better understanding of astronomy and science in general using his skills in art, so in addition to ESA/Webb he is currently collaborating with some of the world’s largest ground-based observatories and international organizations. Mahdi is currently based in Moosburg, Bavaria, Germany.
Nico Bartmann Motion Graphics Based near Munich, Germany, Nico Bartmann works as a Visual Artist and Producer, dealing with static and dynamic images. He began his career at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching as an intern and has worked as a freelancer since 2018 for ESO, ESA/Hubble, and the US National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab.
Davide de Martin Image Processing Davide is an image processing specialist and a science archive miner. He seeks for scientific datasets that are suitable to be turned into nice images and helps the ESA/Webb public outreach team to present the results of the observations in a way comprehensive to the general public. Davide has many years of experience as an image processor working alongside the pros of science communication. He is currently collaborating with ESA/Hubble, US National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
Eleanor Spring Science Writing Eleanor is a science writer for ESA/Webb, and is delighted to have the opportunity to combine her love of writing and communicating with astronomy. She has over 5 years of professional science writing experience for organisations including the European Southern Observatory and the US National Science Foundation's NOIRLab. She comes from the United Kingdom, and is now happily settled in the Netherlands, where she is currently completing a PhD studying exoplanet atmospheres at the University of Amsterdam. When not writing or doing research, she is enjoying the not inconsiderable challenge of learning Dutch and French.
Calum Spring-Turner Science Writing Calum Turner is a freelance science writer based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Joining the Webb team as a regular writer of press releases, pictures of the week, and announcements, Calum has an MPhys in astrophysics and over 5 years of experience writing for organisations including the European Southern Observatory and the US National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab. Outside of science writing, he spends his time studying an MSc in space systems engineering at ISAE-SUAPERO in Toulouse, France.
Peter Grimley Editor and Proof Reading Peter Grimley is a freelance editor and proofreader, based in London and working with ESA/Webb, ESA/Hubble, ESO, NSF's NOIRLab and the IAU. He has a PhD in astronomy, taught undergraduate physics and astronomy in the National University of Ireland and then spent a number of years in the UK Civil Service, before reinventing himself again and joining the world of science communication.
Lorenzo Benassi Graphic Design Lorenzo Benassi is a Communication Designer based in Milan, Italy. Following various experience in advertising agencies, he began his career as a freelancer. He supports the development of logo design, print products, posters, brochures and various digital media including web layouts and visuals for social media.
Adil Hussain Image Processing Adil is an image specialist with more than 15 years of experience. His expertise in astronomical images involves cleaning cosmetic defects and retouching, removing all various artefacts, cosmic rays, bars and lines, etc. Adil is based in India.
Owen Higgins Science Information Officer Owen is a graduate in astronomy, having recently completed his M.Sc. in Space science from the University of Liège, Belgium, following a BSc. in Astrophysics from the National University of Ireland, Galway. He’s volunteered for many years with fellow physics students across the world in science advocacy, outreach and communication, including with the Institute of Physics in Ireland and with the International Association of Physics Students. Bringing these two aspects together, Owen supports the Outreach Team with coordinating and developing their various activities. From the west of Ireland, he lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Marco Moreno Web Team Marco is passionate about technology and is a constant learner. Based in Villavicencio, he completed Misión TIC, where he acquired knowledge and skills for web development. Also, he is a tester certified by the ISTQB, a specialist in commercial management from the University of La Sabana, and a professional in finance and foreign trade from the Sergio Arboleda University. Marco has been supporting the coordination of web content and web development teams at Enciso Systems, bringing a diverse set of skills to face new challenges and promote the development of the entire team and the astronomy community.
Ingry Romero Web Team Ingry Romero is a final-year System Engineering student at Universidad de los Llanos and a member of Enciso Systems since January 2020. She is located in Villavicencio, Colombia and works on ESA/Webb’s web content support team.
Diego Martínez Web Team Diego Martínez is a final-year System Engineering student at Universidad de los Llanos and a member of Enciso Systems since june 2022. He is located in Villavicencio, Colombia and works on ESA/Webb’s web development support team.
Alejandro Vivas Web Team Alejandro Vivas is a Computer Scientist from Universidad de los Llanos. Currently, he is working at Enciso Systems as a backend developer in technologies like Django, Django Rest Framework, Celery, and RabbitMQ. He is located in Villavicencio, Colombia and works on ESA/Webb’s web development support team.
ESA/Webb Strategic Leadership Chris Evans ESA Hubble & Webb Project Scientist and Head of ESA Office at STScI Chris Evans is the ESA Project Scientist for the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes and Head of the ESA Office at STScI. Prior to his move to Baltimore he was Head of Science at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, and the lead of the UK’s instrument development programme for the European Extremely Large Telescope. He is responsible for engagement with the ESA astronomical community and the public on both missions. His research interests span stellar evolution, massive stars, Local Group galaxies and instrumentation.
Paule Sonnentrucker ESA/Webb Mission Manager Paule is an ESA astronomer working from the ESA Office located at STScI, the Hubble and Webb Science Operations Center in Baltimore, USA. As Mission Manager for ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb, Paule is responsible for the contractual and financial aspects of ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb. She ensures that the needs of the ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb teams are met in order to maximize the science return of the Hubble and Webb missions to the European community. As an astronomer, Paule also pursues her own research that focuses on studying the clouds of gas and dust that Hubble sees between the stars: the interstellar medium.
Lars Lindberg Christensen ESA/Webb Strategic Advisor As the ESA/Webb strategic advisor, Lars provides overall support and expertise for the ESA/Webb communications implementation based on decades of coordination experience of the ESA/Hubble outreach work. Working from Tucson, Arizona in the United States, Lars also provides support for technical infrastructure, including synergies with other Djangoplicity installations, like the one at NOIRLab. He also provides image production and image post-processing expertise for the ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb teams.