September 2025
By: Fernando Ferroni, Andreas Freise, Mario Martinez, Martine Oudenhoven
Preparing, creating and running a large experiment such as the Einstein Telescope requires a diverse community of professionals. Many of those professionals, do not necessarily have scientific backgrounds. The Einstein Telescope Organisation, or ETO, was created to become the home for this community. The organisation has now been several years in the making and is increasingly evolving into a professional and closer-knit group.
Now the time has come to start this internal newsletter. To provide some clarity and insight, to practice telling our stories, and to give a small sneak peek to those who happen to read along. To kick off this first ETO newsletter, the two directors, Andreas Freise and Fernando Ferroni, reflect on ETO, the work done and the future. Together with the head of the ET-PP project Mario Martinez.
From left to right: ETO Directors Fernando Ferroni & Andreas Freise and head of the ET-PP project Mario Martinez
All three of them enjoy working for ETO in different ways. "What I like most about ETO," says Andreas, "is to work with people who are motivated by one common goal, which is more important than their own situation or background. I really see this happening in our organisation." Mario seconds this and emphasises the diversity of backgrounds in the organisation: "ETO brings together people from many different areas of expertise, from finance and strategy to engineering and architecture. I enjoy working with people with very diverse experiences." Fernando, although an experienced veteran, feels ETO even brought him something new: "It gives me the unique opportunity to put my expertise to work and in the meantime be faced with a new scientific problem that I never had to handle in my life before."
When asked what they found the most motivating development of the past year, they mention different things. Mario appreciates the improved organisation of meetings and the new Einstein Telescope visual identity. While Fernando mentions "the surprising curiosity that CERN has shown for our project and the enthusiasm for their task". Andreas is inspired by "the people who come to me and offer their help, both professionally and personally, to help ETO succeed".
They are also very proud of the team. The internal contact list now contains more than 50 names, some of which are more involved than others. Fernando is particularly impressed by "how quickly people can come together and solve problems on short notice". "Absolutely, this is the most impressive aspect of ETO," Mario confirms. "For example," Andreas mentions, "during the preparation of the last BGR [Board of Governmental Representatives] meeting, we had almost everyone solving last-minute challenges and still managed to agree on one clear story to tell on the day of the meeting."
Although it's easy to forget in the daily grind, ETO is actually doing something special, Andreas and Fernando note. People came together before a clear plan existed. "We already built a strong and functioning organisation, without the support from a robust framework that a long-standing organisation would have," says Andreas. "Definitely," agrees Fernando, "it's really an example of self-organisation."
When looking ahead, they hope there will be some more clarity on several aspects. "I hope that six months from now, we will find ourselves with much clearer roles and responsibilities in the Einstein Telescope universe," Andreas says. Fernando feels the same: "I hope that we will be going from 'everyone has to help with everything' to a phase where people know who is doing what." Mario stresses that he hopes this will also come "with more people and more money!" because roles, responsibility and resources go hand in hand.
Directors Andreas Freise and Fernando Ferroni at the 3rd ETO General Meeting, September 2025
They also hope that this newsletter will help ETO develop. Andreas: "It's fun, and when I created LIGO Magazine, I have already seen how rewarding it is to collect news and tell stories in a professional format." Fernando adds that a newsletter also forces you "to reflect on what you have done, and how you want to communicate what you have done". And Mario mentions perhaps the most important aspect of this newsletter: "It will help to build a sense of community".