Role:  Member of the PSM, Member of the PLATO Board

Nuno C. Santos graduated in Physics (1996, Univ. of Lisbon). Following a MSc (Univ. Lisbon, 1998) and a PhD in Astronomy & Astrophysics (Univ. Geneva, 2002), he continued as pos-doc/researcher, first at the University of Geneva (2002), and then at the University of Lisbon (up to 2007) and the University of Porto (after that date). Since 2015 he is professor at the University of Porto (full Professor since February 2024), Department of Physics and Astronomy. 

Following a successful ERC Starting Grant (EXOEarths, 2009-2014) and more recently an ERC Advanced Grant (FIERCE, 2022-2027), he was able to establish a team that is an international reference in the field of Planetary Systems. In the research context, Nuno C. Santos is co-author of 500+ refereed papers in high impact international journals. Key leading research results include the detection of the first potential rocky exoplanet orbiting an solar-type star (Santos et al. 2004) and studies of the star-planet connection, in particular relating the chemical abundances of the stars and the probability that they host planets as well as their composition (e.g. Santos et al. 2004; 2017). This latter research avenue granted him, together with colleagues Michel Mayor and Garik Israelian, the 2010 edition of the Viktor Ambartsumian International Prize. 

Since 2009, Nuno C. Santos has leading positions in several international consortia, including Co-PIship of the ESPRESSO@VLT project. He is also Board member and Science Team member of the CHEOPS and of the PLATO missions (on which he also leads two WPs). Further ahead he is deeply involved in the ANDES@ELT spectrograph (ESO). Several of the instrumentation projects led also involved a significant collaboration with national industry. 

Finally, he has an important public outreach activity record, including dozens of public outreach talks and debates, as well as authorship of one outreach book “Outras Terras no Universo” (2012, Ciência Viva collection of Gradiva).