Sun Earth Plan Contributors
The Sun Earth Plan is flourishing thanks to the efforts of a diverse group of experts. They're dedicated to finding out more about our solar system and furthering the British space research programme.
Dr Jim Wild - Project Coordinator
Department of Communication Systems, Lancaster University
Jim's research concentrates on studying the coupling between the solar wind, the magnetosphere and the ionosphere of the Earth using both satellites and ground-based experiments. He is a lecturer in the Space Plasma Environment and Radio Science Group in Lancaster University's Department of Communication Systems. As well as his research, he is an enthusiastic science communicator and makes frequent visits to speak at schools and astronomical societies.
Piers Bizony - Principal Science Writer
Piers is a highly regarded popular science writer, publicist and exhibition organiser, specialising in space, film, special effects and technology subjects. He is the author of a number of works of popular science, including "Invisible Worlds: Exploring the Unseen" and "The Rivers of Mars: Searching for the Cosmic Origins of Life". He recently published "Space 50", a celebration of the fifty years of the space age and his latest project, "Atom", ties in with a major BBC documentary series due for screening later this year.
Sophie Hebden - Science Writer
Sophie is a freelance science writer and editor, specialising in space, technology, climate and environment news. She has a doctorate in space physics and an MSc in science communication. She is currently working part-time and enjoying being a Mum.
Dr Vasilis Archontis
Mathematical Institute - St Andrews University
Vasilis is a research fellow in the Solar Theory Group at the University of St Andrews. Recently, his researh has focussed on modelling of the emergence of magnetic fields from the deep solar interior into the outer atmosphere of the Sun. He is also interested in how emerging fields interact and whether eruptive events are linked to the process of flux emergence.
Dr Lisa Baddeley
EISCAT Scientific Association
Lisa currently works as a researcher for the EISCAT Scientific Association who run and maintain high power radar facilities in the Arctic used for studying the near Earth environment. Her primary research investigates how energy and momentum are transferred from the Sun into the Earth’s upper atmosphere and ionosphere through oscillating magnetic field lines. She is also project co-ordinator of a new program at EISCAT designed to allow scientists from different countries to use the EISCAT facilities.
Dr Daniel Brown
Institute of Mathematical and Physical Sciences - University of Wales Aberystwyth
Daniel's research looks at the complex structure of magnetic fields, specifically relating to magnetic structures found in the Sun's outer atmosphere (corona). He is a lecturer at the University of Wales Aberystwyth.
Dr Adrian Grocott
Department of Physics and Astronomy - University of Leicester
Adrian is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leicester in the Radio & Space Plasma Physics group. He studies the near-Earth space environment using data from a variety of sources such as ionospheric radars and Earth-orbiting satellites. This involves the investigation of a number of geophysical phenomena including variations in the Earth's magnetic field, the structure of the aurora (or northern and southern lights), and the transport of plasma in the ionosphere and magnetosphere.
Prof Andrew Coates
Mullard Space Science Laboratory - University College London
Andrew is the Deputy Director of UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory where he also heads the Planetary Science Group. His research focuses on plasma interaction with unmagnetized (e.g. Titan, Mars, Venus and comets) and magnetized (e.g. Earth, Saturn) objects. He is involved in several past, present and future planetary missions. As well as making frequent media appearances he has given talks to a wide range of groups and societies from primary schools to pensioners.
Prof Stan Cowley
Department of Physics and Astronomy - University of Leicester
Stan is the Head of the Radio and Space Plasma Physics Group in the Department of Physics and Asronomy at the University of Leicester. He has researched in solar-planetary physics for the past 35 years and has published around 400 research papers in the field.
Dr Chris Davis
Space Science and Technology Department - Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Chris is the project scientist for the UK-built Heliospheric Imagers - part of the NASA STEREO mission. He started his career studying the aurora and appears to be moving sunwards.
Prof Róbert (Erdélyi) von Fáy-Siebenbürgen
Department of Applied Mathematics - The University of Sheffield
Róbert's interests lie in understanding the heating processes that generate the high temperature of the solar and stellar atmospheres through theoretical and observational studies. Since 2004 he has been Head of the Solar Physics & Upper-Atmosphere Research Groupin the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Sheffield.
Dr Lyndsay Fletcher
Department of Physics and Astronomy - University of Glasgow
Lyndsay's research concentrates on solar coronal and flare physics and exploits imaging and spectral data from solar space missions such as SOHO. She is a Reader in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Group within the University of Glasgow's Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Dr Lucie Green
Mullard Space Science Laboratory - University College London
Lucie is a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow and NESTA Crucible Awardee based at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory. As well as studgying the activity in the atmosphere of the Sun, she is an active science communicator and regularly visit schools and societies to talk about the latest discoveries in space.
Dr Mark Clilverd
Physical Sciences Division - British Antarctic Survey
Mark is a Project Leader in the Sun-Earth Connection programme inside the Physical Sciences Division of the British Antarctic Survey. Mark's research activities include the upper atmosphere, radiation belts and plasmasphere. He is a PI of the AARDDVARK remote sensing network. Lately he has investigating the coupling of solar explosions to the Earth's atmosphere.
Dr Jamie Gilmour
Reader, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester
Jamie's research focuses on understanding the prehistory, formation and evolution of the solar system through the record preserved in Xenon isotopes. He currently run the world's most sensitive instrument for xenon isotopic analysis at the University of Manchester.
Dr Robert Fear
Department of Physics and Astronomy - University of Leicester
Robert is a researcher in the Radio and Space Plasma Physics Group at the University of Leicester. He works on the interaction process between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetosphere, using data from the European Space Agency's Cluster spacecraft.
Dr Mike Hapgood
Space Science and Technology Department - Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Mike works to create wider awareness about Space Weather - both its application to a wide range of real-world problems and the vital role of STP as the key science underpinning those applications. He also has long involvement in ESA's Cluster mission; as project scientist in the Joint Science Operations Centre, he leads the detailed science planning for Cluster.
Dr Mike Kosch
Department of Communication Systems - Lancaster University
Mike is a Reader in Experimental Space Science in the Space Plasma Environemnt and Radio Science Group at Lancaster University's Department of Communication Systems. His research concentrates on natural and artificial (man-made) auroral phenomena and frequently takes him to high artic to undertake fieldwork.
Dr Nicolas Labrosse
Institute of Mathematical & Physical Sciences - University of Wales Aberystwyth
Nic is studying the physical properties of the solar atmosphere by analysing the light spectrum emitted by the solar plasma. He uses numerical codes to help him understand observations, for example investigating the mechanisms of photon transport. He is a research assistant in the Solar System Physics group at the University of Wales Aberystwyth.
Prof Betty Lanchester
School of Physics and Astronomy - University of Southampton
Betty is interested in the coupling beween the magnetosphere and the ionosphere. She is based in the Space Environment Physics Group in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southampton, where her research involves studies of the aurora using radars, optical detectors and theoretical models
Dr Elizabeth Lucek
Department of Physics - Imperial College
Elizabeth holds a PPARC Advanced Fellowship at Imperial College London, and is responsible for the four magnetometers on the Cluster spacecraft. Her main research interests are in multi-point measurements of processes at the Earth's bow shock, in the magnetosheath and at the magnetopause.
Hazel McAndrews
Mullard Space Science Laboratory - University College London
After working in the space industry for four years, Hazel returned to study and has recenlty completed her PhD on Saturn’s magnetosphere at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
Dr Steve Milan
Department of Physics and Astronomy - University of Leicester
Steve is a lecturer in the Radio and Space Plasma Physics Group at the University of Leicester. He studies the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere by examining the aurora and related ionospheric phenomena. This is more interesting than it sounds.
Professor Steve Schwartz
Department of Physics - Imperial College
Steve is active in several past, present, and future space missions. He is a leading authority on shock waves in space and is Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London.
Dr Darren Wright
Department of Physics and Astronomy - University of Leicester
Darren's work focuses on the use of high power ground-based facilities such as the SPEAR radar to study the coupled magnetosphere-ionosphere system, He is especially interested in magnetospheric waves, wave-particle interactions and particle acceleration occurring within the auroral zone and polar cap. He is a lecturer at the University of Leicester and a PPARC Advanced Research Fellow.
Dr Alan Thomson
Seismology and Geomagnetism Programme - British Geological Survey
Alan is a geophysicist with the British Geological Survey, specialising in the Earth’s magnetic field. This involves researching processes, such as magnetic reversals, operating deep in the core of the Earth. However Alan also studies the interaction between the magnetic fields of the Earth and the Sun. He has recently worked on geomagnetic hazards, for example the risks of space weather to power grids and to low Earth orbit satellites.
Dr Craig J Rodger
Physics Department - University of Otago (New Zealand)
Craig is a senior lecturer in the Space Physics Group of the University of Otago's Physics Department. He uses the Earth's upper atmosphere to study energy inputs from above (like particle precipitation and solar flares) and below (like red sprites). He is a PI of the AARDDVARK remote sensing network and part of the management team of the WWLLN global lightning network
Dr Chris Owen
Mullard Space Science Laboratory - University College London
Chris has been involved in many space satellite programs run by both ESA and NASA and spends much of his time preparing for future missions. For the last few years his research has been dominated by the analysis of data being returned from ESA’s Cluster mission. Chris is a Reader in Space Plasma Physics and Head of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory's Space Plasma Physics Group.
Dr Vic Pearson
Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute - The Open University
Vic's research looks at the carbon geochemistry of extraterrestrial materials such as meteorites using lab-based methods. She is an active science communicator making frequent visits to schools, a Science and Engineering Ambassador and coordinator of a PPARC-funded outreach program called Rocks From Space.
Dr Cathryn Mitchell
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering - University of Bath
Dr Robert Walsh
Department of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics - University of Central Lancashire
Anthony Yeates
School of Mathematics & Statistics - University of St Andrews
Anthony is carrying out research for his PhD in the Solar & Magnetospheric Theory Group at the University of St Andrews. He is modelling the magnetic field in the solar corona with the aim of explaining observed features such as prominences and coronal mass ejections.
