Department of Meteorology, University of Reading

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Curriculum vitae

For my contact details, please see here

Employment history:

2015 - Present: Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Meteorology University of Reading.

  • A 3-year STFC funded PDRA position investigating the evolution of coronal magnetic structure with space climate change.

2012 - 2015: Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Meteorology University of Reading.

  • A 3-year NERC funded PDRA position investigating methods of improving space weather forecasts with the use of STEREO HI observations.

Education:

2009 - 2013: PhD student, Department of Meteorology University of Reading.

  • PhD titled "The statistics of Solar Energetic Particle events; an important component of space weather".

2005 - 2009: MPhys (1st Class), Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton.

  • MPhys project: "Measuring the dispersion relation of surface plasmon polaritons on noble metal-air interfaces".
  • BSc dissertation: "Methods of solar energy conversion and their potential future developments".

07/2009-09/2009: Student Contract Researcher, RAL Space, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Oxfordshire.

  • Here I worked on a project to analyse the effect of dust impacts on the Heliospheric Imager instruments aboard NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft.

Publications: Cited a total of 228 times, 71 times for 1st author publications (according to a Google Scholar search on 11/12/2015). For a full list of publications please see here. I also have a google scholar page, an ORCID page and a ResearcherID page.

Awards and Prizes:

  • Recognised by the University of Reading's Rewarding Excellence scheme for contributions to a citizen science project studying the March 2015 Solar Eclipse, May 2015.
  • Invited to be a young scientist member of an ISSI team investigating "scenarios of future solar activity for climate modelling", May 2015.
  • Invited to be a young scientist member of an ISSI team addressing the "long term reconstruction of solar and solar wind parameters", May 2012.
  • Runner-up prize in a student poster competition at the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) 2012.
  • The article "Predicting space climate change" was selected as an Editors' Choice article in the journal Space Weather Quarterly. Also was at the top of the Journals most read list for two weeks and a report of the paper on the BBC website was the most-read science story for a week.
  • Twice awarded my secondary schools highest award for academic excellence, awarded annually to one male and one female student.

Conference talks and posters:

T = Talk, P = Poster.
  • P: Estimating the inner heliosphere solar wind flow from the STEREO Heliospheric Imager observations, European Space Weather Week, Oostende, Belgium, 2015.
  • T: Comparison of the CME fronts identified by three different methods in the STEREO Heliospheric Imager data, RAS NAM, Llandudno, Wales, 2015.
  • P: The Solar Stormwatch CME catalogue, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2015.
  • T: The Solar Stormwatch CME catalogue, Autumn MIST meeting, RAS, London, UK, 2014.
  • T: The Solar Stormwatch CME catalogue, European Space Weather Week, Leige, Belgium, 2014.
  • T: Centennial variations of near-Earth IMF and solar wind speed, European Space Weather Week, Leige, Belgium, 2014.
  • T: Automated transient detection in the STEREO Heliospheric Imagers, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2014.
  • P: Reconstruction of geomagnetic activity and near-Earth interplanetary conditions over the past 167 years., EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2014.
  • T: Solar Stormwatch: Improving the space weather forecast through citizen science, European Space Weather Week, Antwerp, Brussels, 2013.
  • T: Predicting space climate change, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2012.
  • T: Long-term trends in solar energetic particle events, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 2012.
  • P: Predicting space climate change, RAS NAM, Manchester, UK, 2012. Awarded runner up in Student poster competition.

Conference session and meeting organisation:

  • Co-convened the Energetic particles in the heliosphere; from the sun to planetary atmospheres session at RAS NAM, Llandudno, Wales, 2015.
  • Co-convened the Energetic particles in the heliosphere RAS specialist discussion meeting, London, UK, 2015.

Invited seminars:

  • Differences between the CME fronts identified by an expert, an automated algorithm and the Solar Stormwatch project, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey, UK, Aug 2015.
  • The Solar Stormwatch CME catalogue, Imperial College London, UK, Feb 2015.
  • The Solar Stormwatch project: Tracking Coronal Mass Ejections with remote sensing and citizen science, University of Reading, UK, Feb 2015
  • Solar Energetic Particle Events; an important component of space weather, University of Reading, UK, Nov 2012

Workshop and summer school attendance:

T = Talk, P = Poster.
  • T: Using the HeliosphericImagers to characterise the near-Sun solar wind speed, SEREN workshop on "the evolution of the geoeffective heliospheric magnetic field", Milton, UK,2015.
  • T: Predicting space climate change ISSI team on "scenarios of future solar activity for climate modelling", Sep 2015.
  • T: Geomagnetic reconstructions of solar activity ISSI team on "scenarios of future solar activity for climate modelling", May 2015.
  • SEREN workshop on ``physical pathways to space weather impacts'', February 2015.
  • ISSI team on the ``long term reconstruction of Solar and Solar wind parameters'', Berne, Switzerland, May 2013.
  • T: The Royal Greenwich Observatory magnetometer data - can we make use of it?, ISSI team on the ``long term reconstruction of Solar and Solar wind parameters'', Berne, Switzerland, May 2012.
  • STFC Advanced Solar-Terrestrial Physics Summer School, September 2009.

Community services

  • Member of MIST council, July 2015-present.
  • Reviewer for the following journals: Environemntal Research Letters and Space Weather.
  • Helped propose and convene a RAS specialist discussion meeting on "energetic particles in the heliosphere", 2014.

Teaching experience:

University of Reading

  • One term as a demonstrator and marker in 1st year undergraduate meteorology laboratory classes (2012).
  • One term as a problems class assistant in 1st year undergraduate meteorology lecture course (2011).

University of Southampton

  • Two terms as a demonstrator and marker in the 1st year undergraduate physics laboratory classes and leading tutorial classes (class size of 10) regarding the introductory material to the laboratory experiments (2008-2009).

Other experience:

  • Several blog posts regarding the Solar Stormwatch CME catalogue.
  • Helped coordinate the Departmental Seminar series, organising and hosting a regular schedule of visiting scientists.
  • Produced a press release for the "Predicting space climate change" article in collaboration with the Royal Astronomical Society's Press Office. Subsequently served as the scientific point of contact, dealing directly with journalists.
  • Helped co-ordinate the Space and Atmospheric Electricity research group for 4 years. Involved organising meetings, building and maintaining a website and making arrangements for visiting scientists.