STEM Faculty

Professional biography

Dr Juan Alday is a Postdoctoral Researcher of Planetary Science at The Open University, specialising in the investigation of the composition and variations of the atmosphere of Mars via space missions and ground-based telescopes.

He earned a Master’s degree in Electrophysics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden where he investigated the hydrogen corona of the Jupiter’s Galilean Moons using ultraviolet observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, work by which he was awarded the Best Degree Thesis Prize by the KTH Space Center. He later pursued his PhD in Planetary Physics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, where he investigated the isotopic composition of the atmosphere of Mars using observations from the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, work by which he was awarded the Keith Runcorn Thesis Prize in 2021 by the Royal Astronomical Society. Since then, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, The Open University and the University of Tokyo investigating the dust, chemical and seasonal cycles in the atmosphere of Mars, focusing on how the affect its isotopic composition.

Impact and engagement

Awards

• Keith Runcorn Prize -- Royal Astronomical Society (2021). 
• Best Degree Thesis Prize -- KTH Space center (2017). 

Community service

• Reviewer for Geophysical Research Letters (1).
• Reviewer for Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (2).
• Reviewer for Nature Astronomy (1).
• Reviewer for Nature Communications (1).
• Reviewer of scientific proposals for NASA's Solar System Workings Program (1).

Media appereances

• OU scientist to help define the science strategy for the next Japanese Mars mission.
• OU space researcher wins prestigious Japanese Fellowship to investigate the Mars atmosphere.
• OU space scientists provide new insight into the evolution of Mars' atmosphere.
• Nature Astronomy front cover for the July 2023 issue.

External collaborations

Mission involvement

• Member of the Science Team of the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite onboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
• ESA-appointed member of the Mars Science Strategy Team for JAXA's Martian Moons eXploration mission.

Scientific projects

• A Multi-Mission Approach to Close the Gaps in Understanding of the Structure and Variability in the Mars Upper Atmosphere. (ISSI International Team, 2023).