The European Southern Observatory (ESO) Council has named Andreas Kaufer as the organisation’s next director general. Xavier Barcons will remain in the role until the end of August 2026, and Kaufer is scheduled to succeed him in September, according to the ESO announcement published on 27 October 2025.
A successor already close to ESO’s observatories
Kaufer is ESO’s director of operations at the time of his appointment, a position he has held since 2008. His responsibilities include the end-to-end operation of ESO’s observatories in Chile and the European segment of ALMA’s operations. The incoming director general therefore already works within the systems and facilities that support ESO’s observing programme.
That experience spans several stages of ESO’s development. Kaufer joined the organisation in 1999, after earning a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Heidelberg in 1996. He contributed to the start of operations at the newly built Very Large Telescope before becoming director of the La Silla Paranal Observatory in 2006. ESO Council president Tom Ray says Kaufer has led the organisation’s operations for more than 17 years.
The ELT and ESO’s next programme are the immediate stakes
Ray identifies completing the Extremely Large Telescope as one of the major challenges facing ESO in the coming years. He also points to finding the organisation’s next innovative programme. Those two priorities give the September handover a clear context: Kaufer will take over while ESO continues work on a major observatory project and considers the direction of its future scientific programme.
The announcement does not change that agenda. It establishes who is due to lead ESO after August 2026 and places the transition on a defined timetable. Until then, Barcons remains director general, as he has been since September 2017. Kaufer’s current operational role also means that the incoming leader is already familiar with ESO’s observatories in Chile and with the European side of ALMA’s operations.
What the transition could mean for ESO
The practical significance of the appointment will depend on how the handover connects existing operations with the decisions ahead. Kaufer’s background may provide continuity as ESO works towards completing the Extremely Large Telescope, but the appointment alone does not establish a new ELT timetable or settle the organisation’s next innovative programme.
For now, the key dates are straightforward: Barcons stays in office through the end of August 2026, followed by Kaufer’s planned succession in September. The next developments to watch are the leadership handover, progress towards completion of the Extremely Large Telescope and the eventual direction of ESO’s future programme. Those milestones, rather than the appointment itself, will show how the change in leadership affects the organisation’s next phase.
