Ersilia Vaudo Scarpetta

Ersilia Vaudo graduated in Physics from La Sapienza University in Rome, where she worked in the Department of Cosmology on experiments for measuring the anisotropy of cosmic background radiation. For her results in Astrophysics studies, she received the Amelia Earhart fellowship from the Zonta International Foundation. She is currently the Chief Diversity Officer at the European Space Agency.

During his career, he has held various strategic roles, including preparing decisions at the Ministerial level, supporting the formulation of the European Space Strategy and the ESA Space Exploration program, creating the European Space Policy Institute in Vienna, and serving as Executive Secretary of the scientific-technological advisory group for the ExoMars mission to search for traces of past and present life on Mars. He also worked for four years at the ESA office in Washington DC, focusing on relations with NASA and stakeholders in the US and Canada.

Currently, in her role as Chief Diversity Officer, she is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion as fundamental values of the European Space Agency and supporting actions and initiatives aimed at enhancing and increasing young people's interest in STEM subjects and careers in the space sector.

Ersilia Vaudo was a member of the Board of Directors of Women in Aerospace USA and is currently a member of the International Women's Forum, Women in Aerospace - Europe, and the Women's Forum - Daring Circle of Women in STEM, and is part of the #100experts list of the Bracco Foundation.

In 2019, she was nominated for the European Diversity Awards in the category "Head of Diversity of the Year" and ESA obtained the prestigious Excellence Diversity Award from the International Astronautical Federation in 2020 for the space sector.

In February 2020, she was appointed as an expert by the Ministry of Equal Opportunities and Family and as coordinator of the Working Group for the promotion of the presence of women in STEM subjects and in mathematics in particular.

Since April 2020, she has been part of the Task Force "12 Women for a New Renaissance" established by the Minister for Equal Opportunities and the Family, where she has contributed in particular to the formulation of proposals related to the theme "Research, STEM, and skills training."