Francisco ‘Paco' Colomer will become the director of JIVE, beginning in January 2018. He takes over the position that Huib van Langevelde has held for ten years. Colomer joined JIVE as policy officer and manager of the EC-funded ‘JUMPING JIVE' project in 2017; he came from the Spanish National Geographic Institute, where he had acted as coordinator of VLBI activities with the Yebes telescopes for the last 20 years.
Colomer is looking forward to taking on the role of director: "JIVE is a very exciting place to work, and with the recently acquired ERIC status, there are many opportunities to strengthen the scientific capabilities and support of JIVE among its international partners."
Huib van Langevelde will continue at JIVE as a senior scientist however, he will also take on new teaching responsibilities at Leiden University. He explains his decision to step down: "It has been very rewarding to be responsible for JIVE, but I am really looking forward to spending more time on fewer things. I am sure Paco will do a great job steering JIVE in the future."
A hand over event is being organised to take place in early February.