Characterising exoplanets: detection, formation, interiors, atmospheres and habitability

Athena Coustenis is an Astrophysicist, Director of Research at the French Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), working at Paris Observatory in Meudon. She specializes in space exploration and works in the field of Planetology investigating atmospheres and surfaces of planets and exoplanets. She contributes to the definition and development of space missions and the exploitation of the acquired data. Coustenis is currently President of the European Science Foundation Space Sciences Committee (ESF/ESSC); Chair of the Human Exploration and Science Advisory Committee (HESAC) of ESA; Chair of the COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection; Chair of the Comité d'Evaluation sur la Recherche et l'Exploration Spatiale (CERES) of CNES; member of several other international advisory bodies (ESA/SSAC, ESA/ACEO, SNSB/SAC, US NAS/SSB); Deputy coordinator of the EUROPLANET Society. She has written more than 230 scientific papers and given over 500 presentations.

Steven Miller is Professor of Science Communication and Planetary Science at University College London, where he is head of the Science and Technology Studies (STS) Department.

As a planetary scientist, Professor Miller’s main interests lie in understanding how the atmospheres of giant planets – like Jupiter and Saturn, and some of the hot, giant exoplanets – couple with the space environment around them. He is Co-Coordinator of Europlanet RI activities supporting ground-based observations to back up space missions, outreach and dissemination.

A former political journalist, Professor Miller researches issues surrounding science and society at the European level. He is Director of the European Science Communication network (ESConet: https://esconet.wordpress.com), author of The Chemical Cosmos: a guided tour (http://www.springer.com/physics/book/978-1-4419-8443-2) and co-author of Science in Public: communication, culture and credibility.

Peter Read is currently Professor of Physics and Head of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford. He graduated in Physics at the University of Birmingham (UK) in 1975 and obtained a PhD in Radioastronomy at the University of Cambridge in 1980. After completing his PhD, he became a Research Scientist in remote sensing and geophysical fluid dynamics at the Met. Office. He joined the academic staff of Oxford University in 1991, where he has been based until the present. His research interests cover a wide range of subjects, including aspects of fundamental fluid dynamics, planetary meteorology and climate, involving a mixture of laboratory experiments, numerical climate models and planetary observations. He has been a Co-Investigator or collaborator on NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Cassini Orbiter missions. He has published more than 140 refereed scientific papers and review articles, and a major research monograph on the Martian atmosphere and climate.

Jonathan Tennyson is Massey Professor of Physics at University College London (UCL). After studying chemistry at the Universities of Cambridge and Sussex, he worked at the University of Nijmegen and Daresbury Laboratory before moving to UCL. He served as Head of UCL Physics and Astronomy from 2004 to 2011. His research focuses on high  accuracy calculations of molecular spectra and electron collisions. Highlights include the first assignment of a spectrum of H₃⁺ in the atmosphere of Jupiter based on precise quantum mechanical calculations. Since 2008 he has been a member of the HITRAN International Advisory Board and in 2011 he founded the ExoMol project dedicated to computing molecular line lists for exoplanetary and other atmospheres. This ExoMol database which is currently being extended to include data suitable for high resolution studies, photodissociation and the effects of line broadening for various atmospheres. He was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society in 2019.