Change of Director
foto Ignasi_2017
Dr. Ribas is a Scientific Researcher at the CSIC and member of the Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC). He holds a Bachelor’s degree and PhD in Physics by the University of Barcelona (UB), and carried out a 1.5-yr postdoctoral stay at Villanova University (Pennsylvania, USA) with a Fulbright-Generalitat de Catalunya scholarship. Later, he was Assistant Professor at the UB, Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences, obtained a position of Staff Scientist at the same institute and in 2012 he was promoted to Scientific Researcher, which is the position that he currently holds.
Dr. Ribas’ research lines focus mainly on exoplanets and on the precise knowledge of stars to help improve the planet search and characterization techniques. The ultimate goal is to discover and characterize new planets similar to our Earth and eventually find life outside the Solar System. He leads instrumentation projects both ground- and space-based, among which are the CARMENES spectrum, where he is the Project Scientist, the CHEOPS, PLATO and ARIEL space missions, and the robotic telescopes Joan Oró and Warwick 1-m Telescope He has published over 150 research papers in international scientific journals, including Nature and Science.
Since 2010, he has held the position of Director of the Astronomical Observatory of Montsec, and since 2012 he is the Deputy Director of the Institute of Space Sciences. From 2012 to 2015 he was the President of the Division on Stars and Stellar Physics of the International Astronomical Union, with over 2,500 astronomers from all over the world affiliated. He has been an advisor to the National Agency for Evaluation and Prospection in the area of space research and member of the Astronomy Working Group of the European Space Agency. He has also participated as an advisor and evaluator in international scientific committees of different organizations and institutions. He has received several distinctions, such as the Extraordinary Degree and Doctoral Prizes in 1996 and 1999 (UB) and the Wempe Award 2007 (Potsdam, Germany). He also often participates in dissemination tasks in the media and delivers public conferences in various venues.