diff --git a/app/services/projects/participants_service.rb b/app/services/projects/participants_service.rb
index 800747b7ef60e769ee490af9710961c7e61b2924..1eaecc0d270de8ba9fbd58bc30a1ca36109788c1 100644
--- a/app/services/projects/participants_service.rb
+++ b/app/services/projects/participants_service.rb
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ module Projects
     end
 
     def target_owner
+      return [] unless @target && @target.author.present?
+
       [{
         name: @target.author.name,
         username: @target.author.username