Talk to Them: Women in Astronomy 2020

Nayra Rodríguez Eugenio 

Astrophysicist, science communicator and coordinator of educational projects (IAC)

Field of expertise:  Galaxies, popularization of Astronomy, robotic telescopes

I was born and grew up in Tenerife (Canary Islands). I studied Physics at the University of La Laguna (ULL), where I also did a Master in Astrophysics. I did my doctoral thesis at the IAC and ULL studying distant galaxies and how their properties have changed with the age of the Universe. Since 2011 I have been working in the Outreach and Press Department of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) as a science communicator and coordinator of the Educational Project with Robotic Telescopes (PETeR), which allows Spanish students to do their own research on the Universe using professional telescopes. I also coordinate the Talk to Them : Women in Astronomy initiative and I am the director together with Rosa Doran (NUCLIO) of the international teacher training course ‘Astronomy Adventure in the Canary Islands’.

Although almost all my training and work experience has been developed in Tenerife, Astrophysics has given me the opportunity to make collaborative stays in other countries and work with powerful international teams. During my PhD, I obtained several scholarships to stay in the USA, at the University of California - Santa Cruz (UCSC), the New Mexico State University (NMSU) and the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysics Center (CfA), working with the DEEP2 and AEGIS teams. As PETeR coordinator, I have carried out collaborative stays at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU, UK), the Open University (OU, UK) and the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA, Lisbon, Portugal).