Profile

I am a space cadet, with my head high up in the clouds, even though my feet are firmly on planet Earth. I became interested in space and astronomy at the age of 13 and my passion sky-rocketed from there. I have a PhD in planetary science and my favourite planet is Saturn. My favourite “work” interests are teaching GCSE astronomy and giving public talks to audiences of all ages and sizes, while representing my place of work, the Royal Astronomical Society, which I adore. My favourite astronomer is Caroline Herschel.

Outside of astronomy, I loves to play hockey and the saxophone, I enjoy listening to records and dancing like no one is watching with my husband and young son, and I love curling up on the sofa with an excellent book and my six-fingered cat. I live near the sea, and the smell of the ocean makes me feel alive. I’ll never get tired of watching sunsets from the north west coast.

I am the education, outreach and diversity officer at the Royal Astronomical Society. I teach GCSE Astronomy, give public talks, write books, appear on TV now and again and I’m always trying to make the space industry just that little more diverse!

My role is incredibly varied and I essentially wear three hats. The education one involves anything to do with school age children and teachers, the outreach hat includes things like working with diverse groups to inspire and enthuse people to do STEM, astronomy and geophysics, and within the diversity hat I have to think about getting more diverse audiences to engage with STEM, astronomy and geophysics.

The RAS is a membership organisation representing astronomers and geophysicists all over the globe. The offices are based in central London in Burlington House, and in the building you will find one of the best astronomy libraries you have ever seen! The RAS is 200 years old in 2020, and we’re looking forward to the next 200 years!

In one week, for example, I might teach GCSE Astronomy students, train primary school teachers about space concepts, appear on Sky News talking about aliens, write a safeguarding policy and attend a conference about how to support LGBT+ astronomers. I’m lucky that every day of my job is different so I never get bored! I also really enjoy taking press and media enquiries about current events in astronomy and have been on TV and radio news. Each day is so different and I love my job!

Although the office is based in London, I live in Lancashire, so I work from home. This means that I have a home office and I do a lot of meetings online. I also visit schools and groups in Lancashire, which means I spend a bit of time driving around in my car. I’m always happy to get back home, and when I can see the Blackpool Tower from the motorway I know I’m almost back!