I’ve written two popular science books and I regularly write freelance science features, having worked recently with All About Space, BBC Focus and The New Scientist. I’m also a science host for Neil deGrasse Tyson’s popular StarTalk radio podcast series and regularly appear as a guest.
BBC Expert Women 2013
In 2013 I attended the BBC Academy Training Day for Female Experts. This was a pan-industry event to search for new women experts for television, radio and online broadcast. I was one of thirty specialists chosen to attend the day which involved gaining experience presenting to camera, being interviewed on television and being part of a radio discussion. You can read my report about the day on my blog here. Podcasts, including my own, from all the women experts who attended the course are available on the BBC Expert Women YouTube Channel.
Guardian science media fellow 2013
I was chosen as one of the 2013 Media Fellows with the British Science Association. I completed my placement with The Guardian newspaper science and environment team in London in July 2013. On this placement I learnt how to write science news stories in the general press, figuring out how to condense complex information and present it in a clear way. You can see updates about this in my blog with links to all the stories and podcasts I was involved with, and some of my stories are available in this link.
Specialist areas
Solar system space science (comets, asteroids, planets) and space missions (such as NASA Stardust, ESA Rosetta, NASA OSIRIS-REx, JAXA Hayabusa), space volcanoes.
Writing (some highlights)
- New Scientist feature: Alien volcanoes
- Guardian science and environment articles and blog pieces written by myself – see here for a selection (July 2013).
- The Open University ‘Engaging Research‘ blog. I review my British Science Association Media Fellowship.
- Your house is full of space dust (The Open University ‘OpenLearn’ blog)
- Rosetta blog (The Open University ‘OpenLearn’ blog)
- Your house is full of space dust – it reveals the solar system’s story (The Conversation)
- Comet ISON fizzles…but there’s a sting in the tail (The Conversation)
- Looks like a comet but feels like an asteroid? That’s wild!! (The Conversation)
- Sleeping spacecraft Rosetta ready to wake up for comet landing (The Conversation)
- Why Rosetta is the greatest space mission of our lifetime (The Conversation)
- Rosetta comet mission: five questions you desperately want answered (The Conversation)
- Comet Chasing: The Rosetta Story. Chapter in Patrick Moore’s Yearbook of Astronomy 2016 (Published by Pan Macmillan).
- All About Space feature:
- New Scientist feature: From beyond the stars
- Popular Science book Catching Stardust: Comets, Asteroids and the Birth of the Solar System
Television interviews
- National Geographic Channel series. Strange Truth: The day the sky fell. Interviewed on the Rosetta space mission.
- BBC2 series. Worlds’s Weirdest Events. Interviewed on Indonesian ‘blue lava’ and mysterious Siberian craters.
- Sky at Night – How to Catch a comet (Revealing secrets of comet dust) in August 2014 and Rosetta Special (Presenter: How to build a comet) in November 2014.
- BBC Breakfast – Close asteroid fly-by (February 2013), Rosetta Wake-up (January 2014), Rosetta landing (November 2014)
- BBC News Channel – Close asteroid fly-by/Russian meteorite (February 2013); Perseids Meteor shower (August 2013); Comet ISON approaching Sun (November 2013), Rosetta wake-up (January 2014) and Rosetta landing (November 2014)
- BBC News at Six – Rosetta wake-up (January 2014)
- BBC News at Ten – Rosetta wake-up (January 2014)
- BBC World News – Close asteroid fly-by/Russian meteorite (February 2013)
- BBC Newsround – Close asteroid fly-by/Russian meteorite (February 2013)
- BBC ‘Horizon: Truth about Meteors’ available on YouTube here.
- BBC World Global – Comet ISON approaching Sun (November 2013)
- Sky News – Comet close approach (March 2013), Rosetta Wake-up (January 2014), Rosetta landing (November 2014)
- ITV Anglian – Rosetta Wake-up (January 2014)
YouTube (see my YouTube channel for more)
- Water, Water Everywhere…But Is There Enough to Drink? – StarTalk All-Stars
- Open University Rosetta film: 5 things you didn’t know about Rosetta (Presenter – November 2014).
- Searching for Space Water, with Natalie Starkey – StarTalk All-Stars
- Talks at Google, Venice Beach, LA: Catching Stardust
- Read Science!”, S12:E02, “Catching Stardust” Edition, with Natalie Starkey
- BBC Earth presenter search entry: Earth’s Water
Podcasting and radio (see my dedicated podcasting page for more)
- StarTalk All-Stars host (links for all shows here).
- Guest on StarTalk Live! at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Part 1: Chasing Comets. and Part 2: King of the Kuiper Belt.
- Guardian Science podcast: Science weekly news updates – July 2013
- Guardian Science podcast: Royal Society Summer Exhibition (reporter) – July 2013
- Guardian Science podcast: female fertility and ageing (reporter) – October 2013
- Guardian Science podcast: the wonder of human skin (reporter) – March 2014
- Radio 4 – Inside Science: Show us your instrument (December 2013)
- Radio 5 live – Comet ISON nearing the Sun (November 2013), Rosetta Wake-up (January 2014), Rosetta landing (November 2014)
- Milton Keynes Citizen Newspaper and here. – My research and laboratory and Russian meteorite (March 2013).
- ‘The Science Show’ on Australian ABC National radio: Why more women are paying for lip service. I comment about a topic related to a story I researched for my media fellowship placement.
- ‘The Science Show’ on Australian ABC National radio: Comet dust reveals secrets from a younger Solar System. I’m interviewed about comets and my research.
- BBC World Service – The Business of Space Exploration – July 8th 2014
- Royal Society Summer Exhibition 2014 podcast
Newspaper/magazine interviews
- Telegraph article: Rosetta mission to comet.
- International Business News:Comet ISON.
- The Guardian – Russian meteorite (February 2013)
- The Huffington Post – Russian meteorite (February 2013)
- BBC Focus Magazine – Interviewed by Stuart Clark on Space science highlights for 2014 (no link available) and on an article by James Lloyd: Rosetta spacecraft: All you need to know.
- Chemistry World. Interviewed for article in 2015, More than Dirty Snowballs.
- Open University OpenMinds journal – article on my work and Rosetta