Resume
Romain Thomas
Head of Research Software Engineering
Work Experience
2023 – Present
Head of Research Software Engineering, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom
2020 – 2023
Software Project Leader / Staff Astronomer, European Southern Observatory, Santiago de Chile
2017 – 2020
ESO Fellowship, European Southern Observatory, Santiago de Chile
2015 – 2017
Post-Doctoral Researcher, University of Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
Education
2011 – 2014
PhD in Extragalactic Astrophysics and Cosmology, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, France
Supervisor: O. Le Fèvre
Supervisor: O. Le Fèvre
2009 – 2011
MSc in Fundamental Physics, University Lyon I, Lyon, France
2006 – 2009
BSc in Fundamental Physics, University of Paris-Sud XI, Orsay, France
Management Experience
2025 - 2026
Member of the RSE Conference steering committee, RSE Society, England (as Programme co-chair)
2024 – 2025
Member of the RSE Conference steering committee, RSE Society, England (first as Sponsorship chair, then as Programme co-chair)
2023 – Present
Line Manager (4 senior RSEs, 2 RSEs), University of Sheffield, UK
2023 – Present
Head of Research Software Engineering, University of Sheffield, UK
2022 – 2023
Deputy Head of the X-shooter instrument team, ESO, Paranal, Chile
2020 – 2023
Head of the VISIR Instrument team, ESO, Paranal, Chile
2019 – 2023
Head of the SCUBA project, ESO, Paranal, Chile
Software
2026
STATGATE – Sheffield RSE team performance monitoring, RSE Sheffield proprietary
2025
STON – Software for petrographic visualisatioN, JOSS publication
2024 – 2025
dfitspy – dfits fitsort in python, JOSS publication
2022
SPARTAN – Multi-type Galaxy SED-fitting tool, A&C publication
2020 – 2023
SCUBA – Science Operation Software for quality control and data visualisation, ESO proprietary, SPIE publication
2020
Loots – List python imports
2020
SEDOBS – Observed galaxy simulation, A&C publication
2019
Photon – Graphical Interface for publication quality plots, ASCL entry
2019
catscii – Simple catalog query module
2019
stpip – PyPI statistic web-scraping
2019
specstack – Spectrum stacking algorithm tool, ASCL entry
2019 – 2022
Slasher – Spectra easy cutting interface
Event Organization
2025 – 2026
Programme co-Chair of RSECon26, RSE's largest conference in the world, RSE Society, UK
2024 – 2025
Programme Chair of RSECon25, RSE's largest conference in the world, RSE Society, UK
2024
Creation of the FAIR2 for research software training program, University of Sheffield, UK
2021
ESO spectroscopic surveys: past, present and future of galaxy evolution, ESO, Santiago, Chile (Member of Local Organizing Committee)
2020
PRINT: Python for dummIes iN quaranTine (ESO remote python bootcamp during COVID-19 pandemic), ESO, Santiago, Chile (Main organizer, 30+ participants, multiple talks)
2019 – 2020
3rd Python Boot Camp, ESO, Santiago, Chile (Main Organizer of ESOpy3.0: A workshop about Python for Astronomy at ESO, >30 participants)
2019
The La Silla Observatory from the inauguration to the future, ESO, La Serena, Chile (Member of Local Organising Committee)
2018 – 2020
Multiple fellow meetings, ESO, Santiago de Chile
2018
2nd Python Boot Camp, ESO, Santiago, Chile (Main Organizer of ESOpy2.0: A workshop about Python for Astronomy at ESO, >30 participants)
2017 – 2020
ESO PyCoffees, main organizer and multiple talks, European Southern Observatory, Santiago de Chile
2015 – 2017
PyCoffees, main organizer and multiple talks, University of Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
2013 – 2014
Astro-ph talks, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, France
2011 – 2013
Tea time chats, informal science talks for/from PhD students and Postdocs, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, France
Mentoring and Teaching
2026
RSECon26 mentor (Mentoring 4 junior members of the community with their submissions to the conference), Sheffield, UK
2023
Internship supervisor: Javiera Moreno (SCUBA project), Universidad Federico Santa María, Santiago, Chile
2022
Internship supervisor: Joaquin Hernandez (VISIR/SCUBA project, returning student), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
2021
ESO lecture series: Galaxy deep surveys, ESO Chile, Santiago, Chile
2021
Internship supervisor: Carolina Morales (GRAVITY/SCUBA project), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
2021
Internship supervisor: Joaquin Hernandez (SCUBA project), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
2020
Invited lecture: From galaxy observations to galaxy evolution (PhD level), Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile
2019
Master Internship Co-Supervisor: Francis Tang (ATACAMA project), ESO, Santiago, Chile
2019
ESOpy3.0: Five lectures, ESO, Santiago, Chile
2018
High-School Internship: Elisa Bornscheuer, ESO, Santiago, Chile
2018
ESOpy2.0: Three lectures, ESO, Santiago, Chile
2016
Responsible for the SED-fitting lecture, Bachelor and Master Degree of Astrophysics, University of Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile
2010 – 2011
Oral examiner in engineer prep school (more than 50 examinations including exam preparation, exam, and grading spanning electromagnetism, thermodynamics, optics, mechanics, etc.), Lycée Étienne Mimard, Saint-Étienne, France
Other professional Activities
2025 – present
Associate editor, Journal of Open Source Software, Section Astronomy and Astrophysics
2021
Member of the ESO Chile Fellowship selection committee, ESO, Chile
2020
Hypatia colloquium series science selection committee, ESO, Chile
2019
Journal Referee, American Astronomical Society & Journal of Open Source Software
2018 – 2020
Fellow representative, ESO, Santiago de Chile
2015
Journal Referee, Astronomy and Computing
2011 – 2015
Elected member of the Laboratory council, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
2011 – 2014
Elected member of the Science council, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
Grants, Awards and Nominations
2026
Peer support / mentoring award, The University of Sheffield, School of Computer Science, UK
2026
DiscouRSE grant (£15k), Project ERIS (Evaluating RSE Impact and Scope), Principal Investigator
2026
FAIR Data & Software awards, The University of Sheffield, UK (Winner in the category Engineering, recognising staff and PGRs who have demonstrated best practice in making digital research outputs FAIR)
2025
Finalist of the Rising star award, RSE Society, UK (National award for an individual at an early career stage who has made an outstanding contribution)
2025
RSECon26 host city, RSE Society, UK (Awarded the hosting of the RSECon26 conference for the University of Sheffield; applied as Programme Chair)
2019
SSDF grant, ESO, Santiago, Chile (In collaboration with Dr. Eleonora Sani and Dr. Aleksandra Solarz; Big Data applied to Astronomy)
2019
SSDF grant, ESO, Santiago, Chile (In collaboration with Dr. Pascale Hibon, ATACAMA project; Lyman Alpha Blobs systematic search)
2016
ASPEN conference series travel grant, Aspen, United States
2015
PhD thesis award, Doctoral School ED352, University of Aix Marseille, France
Languages
- French: Native
- English: Fluent
- Spanish: Intermediate