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Meet the team

Jennifer García Carrizo

Hypatia II: Journalist

B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations, M.A. in Audio-visual Communication and Ph.D. in Communication. Lecturer at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos and researcher at XR COM LAB

Jennifer García Carrizo, a former Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Researcher, is now a Lecturer at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Ciberimaginario Research Group) and a researcher at XR COM LAB. She is part of the Art & City Excellence Research Group (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), the Media Discourse Center (DMU, UK), and the R[x]D Group (KU Leuven, Belgium), where she develops her research career, improving citizen participation in cultural places through scientific communication and immersive narrative experiences. She holds an International Ph.D. in Communication from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2020) and has been awarded the first Ph.D. Extraordinary Prize (2023). Recognized with the Academic Excellence National Award (2013 – 2014) and the CAM Excellence Award (2013), she also graduated first in class in the M.A. in Audio-visual Communication (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) and has been awarded more than 25 grants, 8 R&D Excellence Awards, and 2 Excellence Teaching Awards.

ANECA accredits her as a Full Professor and recognizes her with a six-year research period (sexenio) and a five-year teaching period (quinquenio). She is currently the Principal Investigator of the research project COMCIPA: Communication, Science and Citizen Participation: New Interactive and Immersive Models in Educational and Cultural Contexts.  Within the Hypatia II mission, she developed the research project “Hypatia’s Circular Odyssey: Tracing the sustainable path of the Hypatia II Mission“, funded by the Rey Juan Carlos University and the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation.

Research projects

Sustainability

Hypatia’s Circular Odisey: Tracing the sustainable path of the Hypatia II Mission

This project involved the creation of an interactive virtual tour of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Hanksville, Utah, freely accessible. Through a collection of 17 videos, the tour highlights sustainable practices and circular economy initiatives implemented during the Hypatia II mission at the MDRS station, with the goal to inspire similar actions on Earth. The project includes collaborators with organizations such as Planeta Huerto, which provided a portable composter for organic waste management, and Sepiia, which supplied sustainable clothing that requires no ironing and repels odors and dirt. Additionally, The Good Goal app assisted the crew in optimizing sustainability practices throughout the mission.

Outreach activities

Short videos

STEM: Physics with Hypatia

Have you ever wondered what would happen if we played a football match in space? Or how the GPS on your mobile phone works? This series of 17 short videos answers surprising questions and immerses you in the science and technology of everyday life.

360° Virtual TOur

Hypatia’s Circular Odyssey

What happens to waste on a space mission? Dive into this immersive virtual tour and discover how the Hypatia II crew manages resources and waste at the Mars Desert Research Station using principles of sustainability and circular economy.