Ersilia Vaudo

Ersilia Vaudo

Ersilia Vaudo serves as Chief Diversity Officer and Special Advisor on Strategic Evolution at the European Space Agency (ESA), 

She holds a degree in Astrophysics and an executive certificate from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard Kennedy School.

Over her 30-year career spanning Paris and the USA, she has undertaken numerous roles, including in strategy, finance, and international relations, also serving as Executive Secretary of the scientific-technological committee for the selection of missions to Mars. From 2002 to 2006, she was the Deputy Head of ESA’s Washington, D.C., office, in charge of relations with US and Canada stakeholders, including NASA. She has also served on the Board of Directors of Women in Aerospace US.

Ersilia Vaudo is the President and co-founder of the “Il Cielo Itinerante” Association, which promotes STEM education by bringing “the sky where it doesn’t reach.” Using telescopes  and experiments carried on a minibus, the initiative engages children in disadvantaged areas through hands-on STEM activities.

She is the Vice President of Eurisy, a non-profit association comprising 30 European space agencies, focused on fostering the relationship between space and society.

As an author, Ersilia published “MIRABILIS. An English version, “The Story of Astrophysics in Five Revolutions,” will be available too. In May 2024, she published “Why to Study Physics Is (NOT) Difficult” for schools with Mondadori.

Her contributions extend to design as the co-creator of the “Lune d’acqua” lamp, produced and distributed by Artemide. Ersilia Vaudo also curated the XXIII International Exhibition at the Milan Triennale, “Unknown Unknowns: An Introduction to Mysteries,” held from July 2022 to January 2023.

In 2020, she was part of the Italian government’s Task Force “Women for a New Renaissance”, advising on measures for enhancing the participation of girls and women in research and STEM fields. The proposals were later integrated into Italy’s first National Strategy on Gender Equality.

Ersilia Vaudo was also appointed by President Emmanuel Macron as co-chair of the “Talents and Diversity” table within the Scale-Up Europe initiative, presenting recommendations to the French President in June 2021.

In 2022, she was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of the “Stella d’Italia” by the President of the Italian Republic.