Dr. Suzie Imber on WomenInSTEM

Dr Suzie Imber of Leicester’s Planetary Science Group writes about WomenInSTEM for the “Research Hot Topics” blog.

My area of research is planetary science, and in particular Space Weather, which encompasses how the planets in the solar system interact with the solar wind from the Sun. On Earth, it can cause severe disruption to satellites, communication infrastructure, GPS accuracy, for example, but huge events are rare. I am currently working on the BepiColombo mission which is en-route to Mercury. When it gets there in 2025, I will use the data to explore the fundamental physics of space weather, as Mercury experiences a constant stream of the most extreme space weather events in the solar system.

There wasn’t a key moment for me, to study physics and end up a space scientist. I think a turning point was when I was awarded a summer internship at NASA working in the Laboratory for Extra-Terrestrial Physics. This gave me an insight into cutting-edge space research, which lead to a PhD at Leicester. I then went to work for a few years at NASA in the US, before returning to Leicester and being awarded with a research fellowship, and then a permanent post. I work closely with a community of scientists from all over the world, and my job usually entails a significant amount of international travel to share knowledge and work on joint projects. One of the highlights of my job is sitting on the panels that select future missions, although the nature of planetary science is that these missions might be many years in the future.

If I had to give a piece of advice to a younger student, it would be to keep focussing your energies on the subjects that interest you the most and see where that takes you. I’d also like to encourage them to build a broader range of skills and capabilities through extra-curricular activities, from sports to music and the arts. These hobbies are essential for giving us all a break from our work, but also helping us to build skills such as how to work in a team, be a good communicator, or a good problem-solver, all of which are essential, no matter where our future takes us.