Denis Defrère

I build instruments that suppress starlight so Earth-like planets can be seen next to their stars. I am a professor of astronomy at the Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, and was previously a Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (2010-2012), the University of Arizona (2012-2016), and the University of Liège (2016-2020), both within the PSILab group and the Liège Space Center.

My scientific interests focus on developing and deploying cutting-edge instruments to directly detect and analyse exoplanets, particularly Earth-like worlds orbiting nearby stars. I am currently involved in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) instrumentation programs. In particular, I am currently the principal investigator of the ERC-funded SCIFY project to build Asgard/NOTT, a new high-contrast instrument for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at Cerro Paranal in Chile. I also participate in the development and scientific exploitation of GRAVITY+ on the VLTI and am a science team member of METIS, a future infrared imager on the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). I was previously Instrument Scientist of the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer, a NASA-funded nulling interferometer located in Arizona.

In parallel, I currently serve as Belgium’s representative on the ESO User Committee, where I work to ensure the scientific community’s needs are reflected in ESO’s operations and strategic planning. I also coordinate the Belgian VLTI expertise center and the VLTI joint research activities within the Horizon 2020-funded Opticon RadioNet Pilot (ORP) project, leading efforts to improve access to and user support for the VLTI.

Outside of astrophysics, I enjoy running (betrail) and playing chess.