According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the worldwide share of women in research and development is approximately 33.3%, with only 35% of all students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-related fields being women.
Although STEM fields are widely regarded as critical to national (and global!) economies, most countries, regardless of their level of development, have not been able to achieve gender balance in these fields.
To draw attention to the gender imbalance in STEM, in 2015, the “International Day of Women and Girls in Science” was launched. It is celebrated annually on the 11th of February with the aim of raising awareness of the crucial role played by girls and women in science and technology. As part of this day, we would like to draw attention to the many exceptional female experts who take part in the 6G-NTN project.
Dr. Monique Calisti
Martel, CEO – Digital for Planet, President
Monique Calisti is the CEO of Martel Innovate and the President of Digital for Planet. She is a passionate entrepreneur and an ICT expert with a digital soul and consolidated hands-on experience in research and innovation funding, strategic consulting, training, communication, social media marketing, and business development of sustainable and innovative software solutions across several industry segments. Monique holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy.
Leveraging her extensive network and long-standing involvement in the field, she strategically elevates the 6G-NTN project’s presence within the SNS JU ecosystem, fostering meaningful connections and future collaboration.
Alice Piemonti
Martel, AI Engineer and Data Analyst
Alice Piemonti is an AI Engineer and Data Analyst at Martel Innovate. She holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, where she focused on topics such as Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing. During her studies, as part of the Erasmus programme, she spent six months at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria where she deepened her knowledge of AI . Upon starting her Master’s thesis, she joined a tech consulting company in Milan, applying her tech skills in a professional setting and learning a complete set of new ones. At Martel Lab, she contributes to EU-funded projects and drives innovation. In 6G-NTN, she plays a key role in WP5, specifically in T5.2, where the goal is to develop a framework that uses AI and ML to proactively orchestrate Virtual Network Functions (VNFs).
Klaudia dos Santos
Martel, Senior Communication and Dissemination Expert
Klaudia dos Santos is an Editorial Team Leader at Martel Innovate. Leveraging her degree in European Studies and ten years of experience in communication and project management gained across the media and scientific publishing industries, Klaudia leads the work package dedicated to impact creation. In this role, she is responsible for executing a bespoke strategy designed to maximise project visibility and engagement among its stakeholders. A cornerstone of her work is collaborating with project partners to guarantee that all major project developments and activities are communicated accurately, timely, and effectively. By fostering close relationships and aligning efforts, Klaudia ensures a cohesive narrative that resonates with the extended 6G-NTN community.
Anna Aseeva
Digital for Planet, Sustainability Specialist
Anna Aseeva is Sustainability Expert at Digital for Planet. She is fortunate to work in the exciting field of digital sustainability. Before growing into an engaged sustainability expert—with a PhD from Sciences Po Paris and numerous peer-reviewed publications (articles, book chapters, books, and policy papers) spanning both practice- and science-oriented perspectives—Anna gained diverse vocational experience. Anna was a trainee at the Brussels office of a leading British corporate law firm, worked in energy trading, later dealt with sustainable energy at the United Nations in Geneva, before transitioning to the non-profit sector, focusing on corporate social responsibility, climate change, and, ultimately, sustainability. Therefore, for her, fostering an environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and accountable economy is not just a concept—it is a lived experience, a long-term objective, and a lifelong vision. This vision was solidified during her time as a visiting professor with the Shirley Greenberg Chair of Women and the Legal Profession at the University of Ottawa. “Today, our economy is increasingly digital, digitised, or digitalised. Tomorrow, most will be. Digital sustainability—across economic, social, and environmental dimensions—is both a shared responsibility and my most exciting professional challenge to date, at Digital for Planet” Anna states.
Anna contributes to the Work Package 6 in the 6G-NTN Project. More specifically, she extensively contributed to the Sustainability part of the project’s Deliverable ‘Standardisation, Exploitation and Sustainability Strategy and Plan’ (D6.3).
Anita Gojanovic
Digital for Planet, Community Building and Communication Expert
Anita Gojanovic is Community Building and Communication Expert at Digital for Planet. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Online Business and Marketing from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and has gained valuable work experience in strategic communication, social media management, marketing, and organisational change management.
In her role, Anita is responsible for developing engaging content for 6G-NTN’s social media channels and contributing to key editorial activities, including news items and newsletters. Through her work, she actively supports the project’s impact creation efforts, helping to drive awareness and engagement.
Fanny Parzysz
Orange, Research Engineer
Fanny Parzysz received the M.Sc. degree from Telecom ParisTech, France, in 2009, and the Ph.D. degree from the École de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal, Canada, in 2015. She was a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Universitat de Barcelona and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain, then with Orange Innovation, Lannion, France, where she is currently a Research Engineer. She has been involved in projects addressing a wide range of topics, including digital communications and information theory for relaying, stochastic geometry and massive MIMO technologies, energy efficiency for 5G in MEA countries, private networks for Industry 4.0, Drone connectivity, and non-terrestrial networks.
Ana Perez Neira
CTTC, Director
Ana Pérez-Neira is full professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia’s (UPC) Signal Theory and Communication Department. From 2010 to 2014, she served as Vice Rector for Research at UPC. Currently, she leads as the Director of the CTTC – Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya, an independent research center with over 150 researchers. As an IEEE and EURASIP Fellow and recipient of prestigious awards like the ICREA Academia and Narcís Monturiol distinctions, she dedicated her career to advancing multi-channel signal processing, optimisation, and satellite communications. Her role as the coordinator of the European Space Agency’s Satellite Network of Experts (SatNEx) from 2015 to 2025 has been pivotal in building a leading community in this field. Her academic and professional journey is rooted in a deep passion for innovation and collaboration. With over 80 journal papers, 400 conference papers, 70 invited talks, and seven co-authored books, her work spans decades of impactful research. She has led over 30 projects, holds eight patents, and has chaired some of the largest international conferences in telecommunications, including ICASSP 2020, which became the first fully virtual conference due to COVID-19, with 15,000 attendees. As a part of the 6G-NTN project, she is actively involved in Task 4.3 on AI techniques for 6G-NTN radio resource control. Her primary focus is designing a new physical layer for AI-based communications. This involves developing lightweight neural networks with minimal parameters to reduce energy consumption—an essential requirement for satellite devices powered by batteries. Through her work, she strives to bridge the gap between terrestrial and satellite communications, making networks more efficient, sustainable, and universally accessible. Ana and her team at CTTC are pushing the boundaries of telecommunications, ensuring that future networks are as dynamic and resilient as the challenges they are designed to address.
Carla Amatetti
University of Bologna, Junior Assistant Professor
Carla Amatetti has been a Junior Assistant Professor at the University of Bologna since October 2023, where she currently teaches part of the course ‘Principle of Digital Communication’ and ‘Telecommunication Software Laboratory’. She works in the Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering (DEI) within the Digital Communication (DigiComm) group. Carla holds an M.Sc. in Communications and Computer Network Engineering from Politecnico di Torino (2018) and a Ph.D. in Electronics, Telecommunications, and Information Technologies Engineering from the University of Bologna (2023). Her professional journey began at the Fiat Research Center in Orbassano, where she worked on 5G applications for vehicular technologies. Driven by a passion for satellite communication systems, she joined the Digicomm group in 2019 as a Ph.D. student. During her doctoral studies, she spent seven months at the University of Luxembourg, focusing on NB-IoT via Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN). She participates in national and international research projects on wireless and satellite communication systems funded by the European Space Agency, the European Commission, and international research centers. She has served in the technical committees of scientific conferences and since 2024 she has been the Panel and Tutorial Co-Chairs of the IEEE ASMS Conference.
Carla’s expertise spans NTN, 5G, 6G networks, and NB-IoT systems, particularly at the physical layer.
In the 6G-NTN project, she leads Task 4.1 ‘Flexible waveform design and validation’, where she specifically works on the analysis of candidate waveforms and advanced synchronisation techniques for 6G-NTN systems, and contributes to Task T4.2 ‘AI-driven design and validation of a data-enhanced RIC for 6G-NTN’ by contributing to the design of Neural Network empowered Traffic off-loading techniques for integrated networks.
Prof. Marina Barbiroli
University of Bologna, Associate Professor
Marina Barbiroli is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering “G. Marconi” of the University of Bologna. She received the Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering at the University of Bologna in 1995 and the PhD degree in Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bologna in 2000. Driven by her fascination with the physical layer of mobile systems, Marina applied for a scholarship to develop “Prediction models in a macrocellular environment.” Her deep interest in research and continuous learning led her to further explore the complexities of wireless systems, ultimately shaping her academic journey around wireless channel modeling and measurements.
In the 6G-NTN Project, Marina supports Prof. Fuschini, contributing to the channel model, WP4, and dissemination activities. The work carried out is devoted to identifying multipath effects triggered by the propagation environment on the earth surface, through deterministic Ray tracing simulations. The intensity of multipath effects can be evaluated by means of several parameters such as Rice factor and delay spread and can be compared with existing models, including 3GPP TR 38.811, leveraging the 3GPP New Radio (NR) channel model defined in 3GPP TR 38.901, but also extended to frequency bands mostly addressed in the project (i.e. C, Q and V bands).
Mounia Belhabi
Thales Alenia Space, Researcher for 5G/6G Positioning and Localisation
Mounia Belhabi is currently working as Work Package (WP) Manager for 5G/6G Positioning and Localisation at Thales Alenia Space in France. With a PhD in Wireless Communication in 2018 from IETR Rennes and CEA LETI in Grenoble, her research focuses on 5G and 6G wireless communication systems, with a particular emphasis on the development of innovative technologies for next-generation networks. Following that, she worked at Intel as an R&D Engineer in Innovative Wireless Technologies.
In the 6G NTN Project, her role involves overseeing the research, coordination, and execution of key work packages in the field of advanced positioning technologies for 6G Non-Terrestrial Networks. Mounia is responsible for Task 5.1 within WP5, which focuses on the implementation and development of positioning systems based on LEO/MEO constellations, in alignment with the 6G NTN standard. The objective is to meet positioning requirements for network access, including scenarios where GNSS systems are unavailable, with accuracy 10 cm.
Estefania Recayte
DLR, Researcher
Estefanía Recayte is currently a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Communication and Navigation. Estefanía received the M.Sc. and PhD degrees in telecommunication engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 2014 and 2019, respectively. Since 2015 she has been with the Institute of Communication and Navigation, DLR. During the past years she has actively contributed to several national and international projects in the field of satellite communications. She serves on the technical program committee and as session chair in IEEE international conferences.
Estefanía is working in 6G-NTN within the work package on flexible waveform design and validation, contributing by analysing and implementing potential solutions for 6G NTN technologies.
Marie-Laure Charles
Ericsson, 5G-6G / Non-Terrestrial Networks System Architect Engineer
Marie-Laure Charles is 5G-6G / Non-Terrestrial Networks System Architect Engineer at Ericsson. During more than 25 years of Mobile Networks experience in multiple complex and large-scale Telecoms projects, Marie-Laure has acquired insightful knowledge and competence from RF, RAN and transmission design, product support, system integration & validation, product management, presales support, solution and system architecture roles. With solution and system architect mindset, focusing on network solutions design and implementation for several Tier-1 European Mobile Network Operators, Marie-Laure skilled up in 2G/3G/4G/5G RAN and Core network products and E2E solution design activities with proven customer interface skills. Currently, she is involved in system studies considering non-terrestrial components for future Mobile Networks architecture evolution.
Marie-Laure is involved In WP2 and WP3. She contributed to the Use Cases and Business Model deliverables, as well as to the 3D-Multi-layered Architecture analysis.
Francesca Olivia Saunders (Qualcomm) and Sorya Tong (Thales SIX) are also valuable contributors to the 6G-NTN project. Their expertise and efforts play an important role in advancing the project’s goals, further highlighting the vital contributions of women in science and technology.