At the beginning of 2024, the selection process for the positions of director and administrator of the EST Foundation was advertised and opened. After receiving and evaluating various applications, the Board of Trustees made a unanimous decision regarding the selected candidates.
Following the extension of formal offers to the chosen individuals, which were subsequently accepted, we are now able to announce the director and administrator of the EST Canarian Foundation.
The new director is Hector Socas-Navarro, a staff scientist at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). After obtaining his PhD in Physics from the University of La Laguna in 1999, he spent nine years at the High Altitude Observatory, part of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research. There, he conducted significant research in solar physics and contributed to the development of advanced solar instrumentation. He led the construction of the spectro-polarimeter SPINOR and participated in major initiatives such as the DKIST solar telescope and the SDO and Hinode space missions, led by NASA and JAXA, respectively. In 2008, he returned to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and served as the EST project scientist, chairing its Science Working Group until 2018. From 2019 to the end of 2023, he was the director of the Museum of Science and the Cosmos of Tenerife.
Dr. Socas-Navarro has a record of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has been involved in multiple projects funded by the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry. Moreover, his contributions to research have been recognised with several awards. An active science communicator, he is the creator and host of the popular weekly podcast 'Coffee Break: Señal y Ruido,' which discusses current science news.
Hector Socas-Navarro. Director of the EST Foundation.
Likewise, the position of administrator of the EST Foundation has also been filled. The selected candidate is Alejandra Martín, a Research and Technological Development (RTD) manager with extensive knowledge of the management of Research Infrastructures and European Union's RTD funding schemes. Martín has more than 15 years of working experience at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and its Observatories, as well as at the Spanish Office for Science and Technology in Brussels. She is currently the Secretary of the Board of Trustees and Executive Committee of the EST Foundation.
Alejandra Martín. Administrator of the EST Foundation.
The EST Foundation, formed by 10 research institutions from 8 different countries, was created in 2023 and sets an appropriate framework for the development of EST and the legal entity that will be responsible for the construction and operation of the telescope.