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About

Elsa Ducrot is an astrophysicist whose research sits at the exciting frontier of exoplanet science, with a particular focus on detecting and characterizing temperate, Earth-sized planets orbiting ultracool dwarf stars — among the most promising targets in the search for habitable worlds beyond our solar system. She is a core contributor to the SPECULOOS (Search for Habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) project, a sophisticated network of robotic 1-meter telescopes spanning both hemispheres, including the flagship SPECULOOS-South facility at ESO's Cerro Paranal site in Chile and the SPECULOOS Northern Observatory. Her work has been instrumental in defining the project's target strategy, telescope operations, and photometric performance — foundational contributions that have accumulated over 300 citations across her most recognized publications. Ducrot has also contributed to the TRAPPIST Ultra-Cool Dwarf Transit Survey, helping to establish occurrence rates for close-in planets around these dim stellar objects. By enabling the identification of rocky planets whose atmospheres could be studied with next-generation observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope, her research is directly advancing humanity's capacity to assess planetary habitability beyond Earth.