Clara Sousa-Silva (D21D-6713-532C)

Curriculum Vitae

Clara Sousa-Silva

Dr Clara Sousa-Silva is a quantum astrochemist, currently serving as a researcher at the The Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences (IA) in Porto and as an assistant professor in Physics at Bard College (USA). Clara investigates how molecules interact with light so that they can be detected on faraway worlds. Clara spends most of her time studying molecules that life can produce so that, one day, she can detect an alien biosphere. Her favorite molecular biosignature is phosphine: a terrifying gas associated with mostly unpleasant life. When she is not deciphering exoplanet atmospheres, Clara works hard to persuade the next generation of scientists to become an active part of the astronomical community. Clara holds a doctoral degree in Quantum Chemistry from the University College London, and a Masters degree in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Prior to joining IA, Clara was at the Center for Astrophysics (Harvard-Smithsonian), and previously served as a research scientist at MIT from 2016 to 2019. Among her many achievements, Clara is the recipient of the prestigious 51 b Pegasi Fellowship from the Heising Simons Foundation, a fellowship which supports the growing field of planetary astronomy and exceptional postdoctoral scientists who make unique contributions to the field of astronomy. Clara's work and commentary has been featured in the BBC, WIRED, New Scientist, National Geographic, and the New York Times, among many others, and is the focus of her TED talk (which currently has over 1.9 million views). Clara has published an op-ed in Scientific American entitled "When We Finally Find Aliens, They Might Smell Terrible", but all of her other publications are in scientific, peer-reviewed journals: Since 2013, Clara has published 8 first-author articles in topics ranging from quantum chemistry, through educational research, all the way to astrobiology. She is also a co-author in many other peer-reviewed articles, several of which were projects where Clara was a supervisor/mentor. Clara's research has been cited over 2800 times, giving her an h-index of 23 and an i10-index of 31. She has given invited and contributed talks about her research and outreach efforts all over the world, a sample of which can be found in the "Oral Presentation" section.

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Identification

Personal identification

Full name: Clara Sousa-Silva

Citation names

Sousa-Silva, Clara

Author identifiers

Ciência ID: D21D-6713-532C
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7853-6871

Email addresses

clara@astro.up.pt (Professional)

Addresses

INSTITUTO DE ASTROFÍSICA E CIÊNCIAS DO ESPAÇO, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 , Porto, Porto, Portugal (Professional)
Rua Joao de Deus 274, 4430-192, Vila Nova de Gaia , Vila Nova de Gaia , Portugal (Personal)

Websites

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oXyx-yMAAAAJ&hl=en (Scholar)
clarasousasilva.com (Professional)

Knowledge fields

Exact Sciences - Physical Sciences - Astronomy
Exact Sciences - Chemical Sciences - Physical Chemistry

Languages

Language	Speaking	Reading	Writing	Listening	Peer-review
Portuguese (Mother tongue)
English	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)	Proficiency (C2)
French	Elementary (A2)	Elementary (A2)	Beginner (A1)	Elementary (A2)	Beginner (A1)
Spanish; Castilian	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)	Beginner (A1)

Education

	Degree	Classification
2011/05/01 - 2015/09/01 Concluded	Astrophysics (Doctor of Philosophy) Major in Molecular Astrophysics University College London Department of Physics and Astronomy, United Kingdom "Simulating Phosphine Spectra for the Characterization of Exoplanets and Cool Stars" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)
2005/09 - 2010/06 Concluded	Physics and Astronomy (Integrated Bachelor and Masters) (Master) Major in Astrophysics The University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom "Influence of a Star's Evolution on its Planetary System (Top grade attained, ie "First")" (THESIS/DISSERTATION)

Affiliation

Science

	Category Host institution	Employer
2023/06/01 - Current	Auxiliary Researcher (Research)	Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, Portugal

2020/10/01 - 2022/08/30	Researcher (Research)	Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, United States

2016/09/06 - 2020/09/30	Postdoc (Research)	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
	Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, United States
2010/09 - 2011/01	Research Trainee (Research)	Institut Jo¿ef Stefan, Slovenia
	Institut Jo¿ef Stefan, Slovenia

Teaching in Higher Education

	Category Host institution	Employer
2022/08/01 - Current	Assistant Professor (University Teacher)	Bard College, United States

Positions / Appointments

	Category Host institution	Employer
2019/06/23 - Current	Director of the JUnior Research Award (JURA)	Heising-Simons Foundation, United States
	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States (...)
2019/06 - 2021/06/30	Director of the Harvard-MIT Science Research Mentoring Program	Cambridge City Council, United Kingdom
	Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, United States (...)
2015/01 - 2016/09	Head of Education	Twinkle Space Mission, United Kingdom
	University College London Department of Physics and Astronomy, United Kingdom
2014/09 - 2016/07	Secondary School Teacher as part of the Researcher in Schools program	Goldman Sachs International, United Kingdom
	Highams Park School, United Kingdom (...)

Projects

Grant

	Designation	Funders
2021/03/05 - Current	ExCITE-PM: Experimental Constraints for Improving Terrestrial Exoplanet Photochemical Models (Co-I). NASA XRP Grant. 21-XRP21-0074 Researcher	NASA Ongoing
2018 - Current	MAESTRO: A Community Tool for Computing, Visualizing, and Manipulating Molecular & Atomic Opacities (Co-I). NASA NUP Grant. 80NSSC19K1036 Researcher	NASA Ongoing
2018 - 2019	A Database Approach to Life’s use of Chemical Space for Insight into the Nature and Signatures of Life on Other Worlds 80NSSC19K0471 Researcher	NASA Concluded

Other

	Designation	Funders
2024/05/02 - Current	HWO Mentoring Working Group (team member) HWO Researcher
2024/04/11 - Current	WHO Living Worlds Working Group (steering committee member) HWO Researcher
2018 - Current	ARIEL Working Group for Molecular Spectroscopy (Co-Lead) ESA/UK Researcher	ARIEL Space Mission

Outputs

Publications

Journal article	Wynter Broussard; Edward W. Schwieterman; Clara Sousa-Silva; Grace Sanger-Johnson; Sukrit Ranjan; Olivia Venot. "The Impact of Extended CO2 Cross Sections on Temperate Anoxic Planet Atmospheres". The Astrophysical Journal (2025): https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adaaf0. 10.3847/1538-4357/adaaf0 Wynter Broussard; Edward W. Schwieterman; Sukrit Ranjan; Clara Sousa-Silva; Alexander Fateev; Christopher T. Reinhard. "The Impact of Extended H2O Cross Sections on Temperate Anoxic Planet Atmospheres: Implications for Spectral Characterization of Habitable Worlds". The Astrophysical Journal (2024): https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad3a65. 10.3847/1538-4357/ad3a65 Katy Chubb; Séverine Robert; Clara Sousa-Silva; Sergey Yurchenko; Nicole Allard; Vincent Boudon; Jeanna Buldyreva; et al. "Data availability and requirements relevant for the Ariel space mission and other exoplanet atmosphere applications". RAS Techniques and Instruments (2024): http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/rasti/rzae039. 10.1093/rasti/rzae039 Jane S. Greaves; Janusz J. Petkowski; Anita M. S. Richards; Clara Sousa-Silva; Sara Seager; David L. Clements. "Comment on “Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere: A Strict Upper Limit From SOFIA GREAT Observations” by Cordiner et al.". Geophysical Research Letters (2023): https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103539. 10.1029/2023GL103539 Prajwal Niraula; Julien de Wit; Iouli E. Gordon; Robert J. Hargreaves; Clara Sousa-Silva. "Origin and Extent of the Opacity Challenge for Atmospheric Retrievals of WASP-39 b". The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2023): https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acd6f8. 10.3847/2041-8213/acd6f8 Daniel Angerhausen; Maurice Ottiger; Felix Dannert; Yamila Miguel; Clara Sousa-Silva; Jens Kammerer; Franziska Menti; et al. "Large Interferometer for Exoplanets: VIII. Where Is the Phosphine? Observing Exoplanetary PH3 with a Space-Based Mid-Infrared Nulling Interferometer". Astrobiology (2023): https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2022.0010. 10.1089/ast.2022.0010 Prajwal Niraula; Julien de Wit; Iouli E. Gordon; Robert J. Hargreaves; Clara Sousa-Silva; Roman V. Kochanov. "The impending opacity challenge in exoplanet atmospheric characterization". Nature Astronomy (2022): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01773-1. 10.1038/s41550-022-01773-1 Jane S Greaves; Paul B Rimmer; Anita M S Richards; Janusz J Petkowski; William Bains; Sukrit Ranjan; Sara Seager; et al. "Low levels of sulphur dioxide contamination of Venusian phosphine spectra". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 514 2 (2022): 2994-3001. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac1438. 10.1093/mnras/stac1438 William Bains; Janusz J. Petkowski; Sara Seager; Sukrit Ranjan; Clara Sousa-Silva; Paul B. Rimmer; Zhuchang Zhan; Jane S. Greaves; Anita M. S. Richards. "Venusian phosphine: a "wow!" signal in chemistry?". Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements (2021): Published • 10.1080/10426507.2021.1998051 William Bains; Janusz J. Petkowski; Sara Seager; Sukrit Ranjan; Clara Sousa-Silva; Paul B. Rimmer; Zhuchang Zhan; Jane S. Greaves; Anita M.S. Richards. "Phosphine on Venus Cannot Be Explained by Conventional Processes". Astrobiology (2021): Published • 10.1089/ast.2020.2352 Jane S. Greaves; Anita M. S. Richards; William Bains; Paul B. Rimmer; Hideo Sagawa; David L. Clements; Sara Seager; et al. "Addendum: Phosphine gas in the cloud deck of Venus". Nature Astronomy 5 7 (2021): 726-728. Published • 10.1038/s41550-021-01423-y Greaves, Jane S.; Richards, Anita M. S.; Bains, William; Rimmer, Paul B.; Sagawa, Hideo; Clements, David L.; Seager, Sara; et al. "On the Robustness of Phosphine Signatures in Venus' Clouds". Nature Astronomy "Matters Arising" 5 7 (2021): 726-728. Accepted • 10.1038/s41550-021-01423-y Guerrero, Natalia M.; Seager, S.; Huang, Chelsea X.; Vanderburg, Andrew; Soto, Aylin Garcia; Mireles, Ismael; Hesse, Katharine; et al. "The TESS Objects of Interest Catalog from the TESS Prime Mission". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 254 2 (2021): 39. 10.3847/1538-4365/abefe1 Zapata Trujillo, Juan C.; Syme, Anna-Maree; Rowell, Keiran N.; Burns, Brendan P.; Clark, Ebubekir S.; Gorman, Maire N.; Jacob, Lorrie S. D.; et al. "Computational Infrared Spectroscopy of 958 Phosphorus-Bearing Molecules". Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 8 (2021): Published • 10.3389/fspas.2021.639068 Zhan, Zhuchang; Seager, Sara; Petkowski, Janusz Jurand; Sousa-Silva, Clara; Ranjan, Sukrit; Huang, Jingcheng; Bains, William. "Assessment of Isoprene as a Possible Biosignature Gas in Exoplanets with Anoxic Atmospheres". Astrobiology (2021): Published • 10.1089/ast.2019.2146 Wunderlich, Fabian; Scheucher, Markus; Grenfell, John Lee; Schreier, Franz; Sousa-Silva, Clara; Godolt, Mareike; Rauer, Heike. "Detectability of biosignatures on LHS 1140 b". Astronomy & Astrophysics 647 (2021): A48. Published • 10.1051/0004-6361/202039663 Strøm, Paul A.; Bodewits, Dennis; Knight, Matthew M.; Kiefer, Flavien; Jones, Geraint H.; Kral, Quentin; Matrà, Luca; et al. "Exocomets from a Solar System Perspective". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 132 1016 (2020): 101001. Published • 10.1088/1538-3873/aba6a0 Jane S. Greaves; Anita M. S. Richards; William Bains; Paul B. Rimmer; Hideo Sagawa; David L. Clements; Sara Seager; et al. "Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus". Nature Astronomy (2020): Published • 10.1038/s41550-020-1174-4 Sukrit Ranjan; Edward W. Schwieterman; Chester Harman; Alexander Fateev; Clara Sousa-Silva; Sara Seager; Renyu Hu. "Photochemistry of Anoxic Abiotic Habitable Planet Atmospheres: Impact of New H2O Cross Sections". The Astrophysical Journal (2020): Published • 10.3847/1538-4357/ab9363 Sousa-Silva, Clara. "Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres". Astrobiology (2019): Published • 10.1089/ast.2018.1954 Airapetian, V. S.; Barnes, R.; Cohen, O.; Collinson, G. A.; Danchi, W. C.; Dong, C. F.; Del Genio, A. D.; et al. "Impact of space weather on climate and habitability of terrestrial-type exoplanets". International Journal of Astrobiology 19 2 (2019): 136-194. Published • 10.1017/s1473550419000132 Sousa-Silva, Clara. "Trivalent Phosphorus and Phosphines as Components of Biochemistry in Anoxic Environments". Astrobiology (2019): Published • 10.1089/ast.2018.1958 Bains, William; Janusz J. Petkowski; Sousa-Silva, Clara; Seager, S.. "New environmental model for thermodynamic ecology of biological phosphine production". Science of The Total Environment (2019): Published • 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.086 Sousa-Silva, Clara; Clara Sousa-Silva; Janusz J. Petkowski; Sara Seager. "Molecular simulations for the spectroscopic detection of atmospheric gases". Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 21 35 (2019): 18970-18987. Published • 10.1039/c8cp07057a Savin, David; Babb, James; Bellan, Paul; Brogan, Crystal; Cami, Jan; Sousa-Silva, Clara. "Perspectives on Astrophysics Based on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) Techniques". White paper for the Decadal Assessment and Outlook Report on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) Science (2018): https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1811.06157. Published Clara Sousa-Silva; Laura K McKemmish; Katy L Chubb; Maire N Gorman; Jack S Baker; Emma J Barton; Tom Rivlin; Jonathan Tennyson. "Original Research By Young Twinkle Students (ORBYTS): when can students start performing original research?". Physics Education 53 1 (2018): 015020-015020. Published • 10.1088/1361-6552/aa8f2a Katy L. Chubb; Megan Joseph; Jack Franklin; Naail Choudhury; Tibor Furtenbacher; Attila G. Császár; Glenda Gaspard; et al. "MARVEL analysis of the measured high-resolution rovibrational spectra of C2H2 (Acetylene)". Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 204 (2018): 42-55. Published • 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2017.08.018 Sousa-Silva, Clara. "MARVEL Analysis of the Measured High-resolution Rovibronic Spectra of TiO". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 228 2 (2017): 15-15. Published • 10.3847/1538-4365/228/2/15 Jonathan Tennyson; Sergei N. Yurchenko; Al-Refaie, Ahmed; Barton, Emma; Chubb, Katy; Coles, Philip; Diamantopoulou, S; et al. "The ExoMol database: molecular line lists for exoplanet and other hot atmospheres". Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy. 327 (2016): 73-94. Published • 10.1016/j.jms.2016.05.002 Sousa-Silva, Clara; Jonathan Tennyson; Sergei N. Yurchenko. "Communication: Tunnelling splitting in the phosphine molecule". Journal of Chemical Physics 145 9 (2016): Published • 10.1063/1.4962259 Sousa-Silva, Clara; Hesketh, Nicholas; Sergei N. Yurchenko; Hill, Christian; Jonathan Tennyson. "High temperature partition functions and thermodynamic data for ammonia and phosphine". Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 142 (2014): Published • 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2014.03.012 Sousa-Silva, Clara; Al-Refaie, Ahmed; Jonathan Tennyson; Sergei N. Yurchenko. "Exomol line lists - VII. the rotation-vibration spectrum of phosphine up to 1500 K". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 446 3 (2014): 2337-2347. Published • 10.1093/mnras/stu2246 Sousa-Silva, Clara; Veryasov, Gleb; Goreshnik, Evgeny; Ponikvar, Maja; Jesih, Adolf. "Crystal structure and vibrational spectra of hydrazinium(+1) fluorocadmate(II)". Monatshefte für Chemie - Chemical Monthly 144 10 (2013): 1455-1459. Published • 10.1007/s00706-013-1036-1 Sousa-Silva, Clara; Sergei N. Yurchenko; Jonathan Tennyson. "A computed room temperature line list for phosphine". Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy 288 1 (2013): Published • 10.1016/j.jms.2013.04.002
Magazine article	Sousa-Silva, Clara. "When We Finally Find Aliens, They Might Smell Terrible", Scientific American, 2019, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/when-we-finally-find-aliens-they-might-smell-terrible/.
Preprint	Jane Greaves; Janusz Jurand Petkowski; Anita M S Richards; Clara Sousa-Silva; Sara Seager; David L Clements. "Comment on “Phosphine in the Venusian Atmosphere: A Strict Upper Limit from SOFIA GREAT Observations” by Cordiner et al.". 2023. https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.167839708.88497040/v1. 10.22541/essoar.167839708.88497040/v1 Jane Greaves; Janusz Jurand Petkowski; Anita M S Richards; Clara Sousa-Silva; Sara Seager; David L Clements. "Recovery of Phosphine in Venus' Atmosphere from SOFIA Observations". 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10512932.1. 10.1002/essoar.10512932.1

Artistic / Performance

Artistic exhibition	Aleksandra Mir. Space Tapestry (Tate Liverpool and the Museum of Modern Art Oxford). 2017.
Artistic performance	2021. NOVA Exoplanet Lab (as scientific consultant and actress). PBS. David Ibbett. 2020. Multiverse: Octave of Light. Boston Museum of Science.
Musical composition	"Phosphine: Life Anaerobic". Sonification and Music by David Ibbett, in collaboration with Clara Sousa-Silva. Performance by Minjin Chung at Other Skies: an Exoplanetary Festival. 2021.

Activities

Oral presentation

	Presentation title	Event name Host (Event location)
2024/10/28	Education with ARIEL	ARIEL Consortium Meeting ARIEL Space Mission (Lisbon, Portugal)
2024/10	Biospheres	Biology Seminar Bard College (Biology) (Annandale-on-Hudson, United States)
2024/07/17	Spectroscopic Data: Problems and Promises	Two HoRSEs: High-Resolution Exoplanet and Stellar Characterization Today and in the ELT Era The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) (Berlin, Germany)
2024/06/18	Spectroscopic Data and Biosignatures	CAUP (Porto, Portugal)
2024/04/19	Spectroscopy of Biospheres	Kenyon College (United States)
2023/11/27	“Alien Life and How to Find It.” https://lsc.org/news-and-social/news/dr-clara-sousa-silva-explores-alien-life-and-how-find-it-latest-space-talk-presentation	(New York City, United States)
2022/01/14	Life as We Don't Know It (Keynote Speaker)	Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Club Rotary Club (California, United States)
2022/01/12	The Webb Space Telescope (JWST Subject Matter Expert)	James Webb Launch Party Challenger Learning Center of Maine (Maine, United States)
2022/01/11	Searching for Life on Exoplanets (Invited Speaker)	NOVA Universe Revealed Virtual Tour PBS (PBS, United States)
2021/12/03	Finding an Alien Biosphere with Computational Chemistry (Invited Speaker)	Venus’ surface, climate and evolution University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada)
2021/12/02	Phosphine on Venus (Panelist)	Venera-D: Venus Cloud Habitability System Workshop NASA/JPL (United States)
2021/11/19	Exploring the Universe (Panelist)	Chicago Business Leaders Luncheon Chicago Business Exchange and the Smithsonian Institution (Chicago, United States)
2021/10/29	The Next Era of Astronomy Education and Outreach (Invited Speaker)	Twinkle and the Next Generation of Exoplanet Scientists Twinkle Space Mission - Blue Sky Space (Virtual, United Kingdom)
2021/10/07	Would we know life if we saw it? (Keynote Speaker)	Thursday Think Series Math for America (New York, United States)
2021/09/08	Finding an Alien Biosphere with Computational Chemistry (Invited Speaker)	Encontro Nacional de Astronomia e Astrofísica Sociedade Portuguesa de Astronomia (Virtual, Portugal)
2021/09/02	Creating a Spectroscopic Toolkit for the Characterization of Exoplanets (Invited Plenary Speaker)	High Resolution and Molecular Spectroscopy Swiss Chemical Society (Cologne, Germany)
2021/09/01	Finding an Alien Biosphere with Computational Chemistry (Invited Plenary Speaker)	Irish National Astronomy Meeting 2021 INAM SOC (Dublin, Ireland)
2021/08/12	Molecules, Children, and Aliens (Contributed Talk)	51 Pegasi b Summit Heising-Simons (California, United States)
2021/07/21	The fingerprints of life beyond Earth (official TED Conference Speaker)	TEDMonterey TED (Monterey, United States)
2021/06/17	Imaging Out of this World (Panelist)	Imaging Science: Discovery Through Photography MIT Museum (Cambridge, United States)
2021/06/02	Finding an Alien Biosphere with Computational Chemistry (Invited Speaker)	UCSC Astronomy Colloquium UC Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, United States)
2021/05/14	(Extreme) Life beyond Earth (Invited Speaker)	Extreme Environments: From Space to People Exeter University (Exeter, United Kingdom)
2021/05/02	From Spectroscopy to Life (Contributed Talk)	53rd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics American Physical Society (Virtual, United States)
2021/04/29	SAO Giant Magellan Telescope Deep-Dive (Invited Speaker)	Exploring the Planet, Understanding the Universe Smithsonian National Board (Virtual, United States)
2021/04/27	Exoplanets and the Search for Life (Master Class Lecturer)	Osher Institute UC San Diego (San Diego, United States)
2021/04/21	Towards a complete spectroscopic toolkit for the characterization of exoplanet atmospheres (Contributed Talk)	STScI Symposium 2021 Space Telescope Science Institute (Virtual, United States)
2021/04/15	Would We Know Life if We Saw it? (Keynote Speaker)	Observatory Night Harvard University - Center for Astrophysics (Cambridge, United States)
2021/04/08	O papel das mulheres na Ciência [Women's Role in Science] (Panelist)	Jornadas da Ciência Escola de Ciências da Universidade do Minho (Virtual, Portugal)
2021/04/01	Finding an Alien Biosphere with Computational Chemistry (Invited Speaker)	High Energy and Astrophysics (HEAP) Seminar University of Utah (Salt Lake City, United States)
2021/02/24	Biosignatures (Panelist)	Habitable Worlds 2021 meeting American Astronomical Society (Virtual, United States)
2021/02/15	Finding a Alien Biosphere with Computational Chemistry (Invited Speaker)	SFSU Colloquium San Francisco State University (San Francisco, United States)
2020/11/24	Would we know life if we saw it? (Webinar Speaker)	WIRED Live WIRED (London, United Kingdom)
2020/11/20	Life in the Universe (Webinar Panelist)	National Astronomy Week Royal Astronomy Society (Virtual, United Kingdom)
2020/11/18	Life on Venus? Or much ado about nothing? (Invited Speaker)	SETI Talks SETI (Virtual, United States)
2020/11/10	Finding an Alien Biosphere… on Venus? (Public Keynote Speaker)	Grande conférence de l'iREx Université de Montréal (Montreal, Canada)
2020/11	Debate Speaker (for Biosignatures)	Biosignatures VS Technosignatures Debate Columbia University (New York, United States)
2020/10/01	Finding an Alien Biosphere with Computational Chemistry (Invited Speaker)	Chemistry Seminar University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)
2020/07	Detecting and Interpreting Agnostic Biosignatures (Contributed Speaker)	Exoplanets III - Habitability and Biosignatures Heidelberg University (Heidelberg, Germany)
2020/06/24	Agnostic and Anoxic Biosignatures (Invited Speaker)	What Makes a Planet Uninhabitable? University of Chicago (Chicago, United States)
2020/05/08	Spectroscopy and Astrobiology (Invited Speaker)	Astrophysics Colloquium Dartmouth College (Hanover, United States)
2020/03/02	Spectroscopy and Life (Invited Speaker)	Astrophysics Institute Seminar CAUP (Porto, Portugal)
2020/02/25	Agnostic Biosignatures and How to Find Life on Anoxic Planets (Invited Speaker)	Astrobiology and Planetary Exploration University College London (London, United Kingdom)
2019/11/05	Phosphine and the Search for Biosignatures (Invited Speaker)	Planetary Seminar Cornell University (Ithaca, United States)
2019/05/16	Understanding the Composition of Planetary Building Blocks (Invited Speaker)	ExoComets Meeting Lorentz Center (Leiden, Netherlands)

Event organisation

	Event name Type of event (Role)	Institution / Organization
2019/06 - Current	Organization of the end of year symposium where students present the results of their research. Duties also include developing and delivering monthly advisory meetings and lectures to the students and mentors. (2020/04) Symposium	Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, United States Science Research Mentoring Program, United States

Committee member

	Activity description Role	Institution / Organization
2017 - 2019	Advisory group for the development and implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusivity policy. Member	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
2016 - 2019	Organization dedicated to fostering a welcoming, supportive community for everyone in the Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Department. Member	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

Consulting

	Activity description	Institution / Organization
2021/12 - Current	Subject Matter Expert for NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Community Events	NASA, United States
2021/03/05 - Current	Consultant for the InitiaSciences (https://initiasciences.ca) scientific outreach program in Montreal, based on the JURA and ORBYTS programs I created and the SRMP program I directed.	Université de Montréal, Canada
2021/03/04 - Current	Advisor for the MagLab Education External Advisory Board, as a scientific outreach expert.	MagLab, United States
2010/09 - 2011/01	Liasion between the Institute and equipment companies. Duties included organizing meetings/presentations, and researching/purchasing equipment. I was also in charge of setting-up an experiment for the study of crystal structures, and developed a computational program for spectrometer calibration.	Institut Jo¿ef Stefan, Slovenia

Evaluation committee

	Activity description Role	Institution / Organization	Funding entity
2018 - Current	Reviewer for multiple proposal panels, including HST Cycle 28, the GWIS National Fellowship Program, NASA FDL 2019 Challenges, and the Heising-Simons MIT Physics Research Grants.

Interview (newspaper / magazine)

	Activity description	Newspaper / Forum
2021/06/02	Interviewee for article entitled: "NASA Just Broke the ‘Venus Curse’: Here’s What It Took"	Scientific American
2021/02/01	One of many articles about the SRMP program and the research success of two of my SRMP students; "Balancing Homework and A.P. Classes, These High Schoolers Discovered Four Exoplanets"	Smithsonian Magazine
2020/09/16	One of many interviews I gave in Portugal, related to my work on phosphine, titled: "“Esta é a descoberta do século”: uma história sobre Vénus e uma investigadora portuguesa"	Expresso (and other Portuguese Newspapers, e.g. Publico)
2020/09/14	Article written about my work, titled: ‘Dr. Phosphine’ and the Possibility of Life on Venus	WIRED Magazine
2020/09	Two of many articles written about (maybe) phosphine on Venus to which I contributed.	New York Times (15 September 2020 and 8 Feb 2021)

Interview (tv / radio show)

	Program	Topic
2019/03 - Current	BBC Ideas - How Could Aliens Find Us?	I wrote the script and presented a short video describing my work on biosignatures to the public
2021/12/17 - 2021/12/30	This Week On Earth...with Clara Sousa-Silva	UBC’s Pacific Museum of Earth
2019/05 - 2021/11/21	The Hunt For Planet B (a Nathaniel Kahn Documentary)	Interviewee
2020/11/20 - 2021/11/20	NOVA: Universe Revealed TV series (BBC/PBS).	Interviewee and scientific consultant for the "Alien Worlds" episode
2021/10/14 - 2021/11/18	NOVA Now	The hitchhiker’s guide to exoplanets and alien life
2021/04/20 - 2021/11/02	Are There Aliens on Venus? \| Planet Explorers \| BBC Earth	Interviewee and Narrator
2021/09/08 - 2021/09/08	Prova Oral com Fernando Alvim	Interviewee
2020/11/09 - 2020/11/09	Clear + Vivid with Alan Alda - Life on Venus?	One of many interviews I gave about my recent work on phosphine as a biosignature.

Mentoring / Tutoring

	Topic	Student name
2019/06/23 - Current	Director and direct mentor for the JURA program	Asma Ali, Cara Pesciotta, Lorenzo Pica, and Zahra Heussen
2019/05 - Current	Director of the Harvard-MIT Science Research Mentoring Program	Managing and advising over a dozen teams of supervisors and students
2015/01 - 2016/07	ORBYTS Founder and Director	Training and collaborating with dozens of students from multiple London schools
2014/09 - 2016/07	Teaching and Outreach	Highams Park and Isleworth and Syon School Students

Other jury / evaluation

	Activity description	Institution / Organization
2018 - Current	Journal Reviewer for the Astrophysical Journal (AAS), the Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy (Elsevier), and Atmospheres (MDPI).

Distinctions

Award

2023	Science News List of 10 Scientists to Watch in 2023
2023	Jon C. Graff Prize for Excellence in Science Communication
2019	51 Pegasi b Fellowship (included a grant of approximately $375,000) Heising-Simons Foundation, United States
2019	NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) 2019 (declined) NASA National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, United States
2018	MIT Physics Research Fellows Grant ($15,000 for postdoctoral projects) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States Heising-Simons Foundation, United States

Other distinction

2021	Observing time (as Co-I) on the Keck telescope for the 2021B semester
2020	Observing time (as PI) with IRTF NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, United States
2018	Observing time with ALMA (as Co-I) Atacama Large Millimeter submillimeter Array, Chile