Carolina Ödman-Govender

Ödman grew up in Switzerland.[1] She was inspired by her high school physics teacher, and decided to pursue a career in the sciences. She eventually studied physics at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and graduated in 2000.[2][3][4] She earned her PhD at the University of Cambridge, where she was a member of Trinity Hall.[5] She was a postdoctoral scholar at Universita degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza". Here she worked on dark energy.[6] She has also acted as a consultant for UNESCO, working on the impact of science and technology in society.[2] She became interested in the philosophical aspects of science, like why people are interested in astronomy.[1]

In 2005 Ödman joined Leiden University as an international project manager, where she worked with George Miley.[1] Amongst other achievements, this involved setting up the Astronomy for Africa taskforce and leading Universe Awareness (UNAWE).[7][8] Universe Awareness is an outreach programme that inspires children about astronomy, reaching over 400,000 children in over 60 countries.[9][10] She joined the Square Kilometre Array project at the South African Astronomical Observatory in 2010. Ödman was made Director of Academic Development at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in 2011.[11] In 2012 she received an award from Science Magazinethe Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE) award for her work on Universe Awareness.[12] She was part of the team that created Galileo Mobile project.[13]

In 2018 Ödman was made Associate Director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics. She was made an Associate Professor at the University of the Western Cape.