Manuela Cirilli joined CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group in 2010, as Technical Coordinator of a EU-funded project on medical imaging, and she was appointed Section Leader for Medical Applications in 2016. She is also Chair of CERN’s Medical Applications Project Forum.

Prior to this, Manuela has been an experimental researcher in particle physics. She first came to CERN in 1997 as PhD student, to work on the NA48 experiment. This experiment aimed at measuring with extreme precision whether there was an imbalance between the behaviour of certain particles and of their antiparticles. In 2001 she started working on ATLAS, is one of two general-purpose detectors at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC). ATLAS was designed to investigate a wide range of physics, from the search for the Higgs boson to extra dimensions and particles that could make up dark matter. During her years as particle physicist, Manuela has gained extensive experience in detector construction and commissioning, data analysis, and databases, and has held several coordination roles in both the NA48 and ATLAS Collaborations.

Manuela holds a PhD in Particle Physics from the “Scuola Normale Superiore” in Pisa, Italy, as well as a Master in Science Communication and Journalism from the University of Ferrara, Italy. She is co-author of more than 320 peer-reviewed publications, including the article on the discovery of the Higgs boson by the ATLAS collaboration.

In parallel to her scientific career, Manuela has been engaging in science communication and popularization since the early 2000s, for a variety of audiences and stakeholders of all ages. She is also a teacher and coach in science communication, science writing, and public speaking. Manuela is also actively involved in promoting STEM careers among young women and girls: she has been School Ambassador for the FP6 project SET-Routes, and has been participating to events and projects such as the Expanding Your Horizon conference in Geneva or the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.