Michela Mapelli appointed Chair of the Observation Science Board (OSB) of the Einstein Telescope Collaboration
Michela Mapelli, STRUCTURES professor at Heidelberg University at the Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing, has been appointed Chair of the Observation Science Board (OSB) of the Einstein Telescope Collaboration, one of the major international projects shaping the future of gravitational-wave astronomy.
The Einstein Telescope is the planned next-generation European gravitational-wave observatory. Designed to be about ten times more sensitive than current gravitational-wave detectors, the Einstein Telescope is expected to detect gravitational-wave events from across most of the observable Universe and to investigate fundamental questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. The Einstein Telescope has been included in the ESFRI Roadmap since 2021 (https://roadmap2021.esfri.eu/) and has been identified by the German Ministry for Research, Technology and Space, as one of the key infrastructures of the future (https://www.bmftr.bund.de/DE/Forschung/Wissenschaftssystem/Forschungsinfrastrukturen/Priorisierungsverfahren/priorisierungsverfahren_node.html).
With more than 700 members, the Observation Science Board (https://www.et-gw.eu/index.php/the-et-collaboration/observational-science-board) plays a central role within the collaboration: it coordinates the development of the scientific goals of the Einstein Telescope, including studies of compact objects, cosmology, multimessenger astronomy, data analysis, and synergies with other electromagnetic and gravitational-wave observatories.
Mapelli has been a member of the Einstein Telescope Collaboration since its foundation in 2022 and has served as one of the lead editors of the “Blue Book” (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026JCAP...03..081A/abstract ). Her research focuses on understanding the formation and evolution of binary black holes and intermediate-mass black holes across cosmic time. Since 2023, Heidelberg University has hosted one of the main research units of the Einstein Telescope Collaboration in Germany, with more than 20 members spread across the Zentrum für Astronomie, the Institut für Theoretische Physik, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies.
“I am deeply honored to serve as Chair of the Observation Science Board,” says Mapelli. “The Einstein Telescope will open an entirely new window on the Universe, and I look forward to working with the international community and with my co-chairs, Archisman Ghosh (Ghent University) and Paolo Pani (La Sapienza University of Rome), to help shape its scientific vision.”
SCIENTIFIC CONTACT
Prof. Dr. Michela Mapelli
Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH)
Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA)
Homepage of Prof. Dr. Michela Mapelli
mapelli@uni-heidelberg.de
CONTACT FOR THE MEDIA
Dr. Guido Thimm
Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH)
thimm@uni-heidelberg.de
