Advisory Board
External experts participate in ASTRAIOS as members of our dedicated Advisory Board. Their role is to provide knowledgeable inputs and insights to research ethics, the conceptual and methodological developments and impacts, and challenge conventional thinking on crucial aspects of the project.
Lucy van der Tas (F) has worked in the Human Resources Department of the European Space Agency for 40 years and she is based at ESA’s technical centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. She has held a variety of roles in recruitment and training, including leading the ESTEC Training Service from 1995 until 2010, after which she became an HR Advisor. In this role, she was responsible for recruitment and career management for one of the largest ESA engineering directorates. In October 2020, she became Head of Talent Acquisition. She and her team market ESA as an employer with a view to attracting candidates from a wide range of backgrounds to apply for its vacancies.
Jason Maroothynaden (M) started his career as a Bio-instrumentation Engineer at ESA/ESTEC. He left space and became an internationally experienced venture builder. In 2017, he came back to Europe and the space sector and started working at ESA/ECSAT as a Business Broker in the ESA Space Solutions Programme. As broker, he spent a lot of time with start-ups and facilitated access to finance, particularly working in partnership with Venture Capital and Business Angel funds. Since May 2020, Jason has been supporting HE Space in Business Development, focusing on customers in Harwell, Oxfordshire. With 20 years in the aerospace business and venture, his expertise covers investment, finance relations, venture growth, downstream applications, microgravity sciences and payload development.
Milva Carbonaro (F), director of GISIG Association from 2017 to 23rd of May 2023, when she was appointed as new CEO (Coordinator). Studies on business and economics, graduated in Humanities and master’s degree in Open Distance Learning. More than 30 years’ experience in EU funded project management and administration as well as on the promotion of pilot training and mobility projects. Primary Coordinator Contact for the ERASMUS+ Sector Skills Alliance EO4GEO and the Knowledge Alliance giCASES. She also supports quality assurance processes for VET activities. More recently, she coordinates the EO4GEO Alliance, born from the legacy of the EO4GEO Blueprint project, and the recently launched Large Scale Skills Partnership on Space Data, Service and Applications (SPACE4GEO) under the Pact for Skills EU initiative.
Markus Jäger (M) is the Head of IPC Space Transportation Committee of the International Astronautical Federation. He has extensive industrial experience at many primes, and spent over 22 years as a propulsion expert at Airbus DS. From Airbus he moved to ArianeGroup and the Exploration Company, before moving back to the propulsion department of Airbus DS. He is also a lecturer of the space propulsion course at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne since 2022.
Emmanuel Zenou (M) is the Head of International at ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, France. He is the newly elected Chair of PEGASUS Network of aerospace engineering universities, and the former coordinator and current special advisor for the UNIVERSEH project.
Athanasios Dafnis (M) is the leader and the coordinator of the scientific and technological area ‘Space’ within the European Aeronautics Science Network (EASN) Association. He has many years of experience in space related issues and has represented EASN in establishing the space partnership, which will be launched by the European Commission, as well as participated in shaping its SRIA. Additionally, he works as a Research Project Organiser/Applicator, Project Manager and University Teacher. As a teacher he lectures at the Faculty of Aeronautic Engineering both at RWTH Aachen University and at the Aachen University of Applied Sciences.
Danny Vandenbroucke (M) is research manager at KU Leuven where he leads a group of 10 geo-ICT experts. He is active in the field of geospatial and space standards (OGC, ISO). He was leading Geographic Information Need to Know (GI-N2K), a consortium of 32 partners in which a Body of Knowledge (BoK) for the Geographic Information Science and Technology sector was developed. Danny was the scientific and technical coordinator of the EO4GEO project in which the BoK was expanded to the EO and space sector. He was/is involved in more than 10 skills development projects.
Miriam Rosa (F) is a specialist in social and organisational psychology. In the last 18 years, she has been working in academia as a scientific researcher, focusing on change and inclusion at work. More recently, through a partnership with QSR (Quasar Human Capital, a strategic consultancy company), she specialised in human factors in highly technological sectors such as Aerospace. Aiming at leading the QSR Innovation Centre and its knowledge network, she studies the social impacts of technological advances, informing best practices and strategic decisions for a skilled and prosperous aerospace sector (for instance, informing skilling, reskilling and upskilling pathways, tacking learning and labour shortages). Additionally, she is an invited Professor at Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon.