Celebrating women in space
To mark and celebrate International Women's Day 2018, the UK Space Agency invited women working across the space sector to share their advice on pursuing a career in the field and discuss why it is such an exciting sector to work in. In the video, Dr Imber shared the excitement she feels every day working in the sector.
Last year, Suzie won BBC Two’s ‘Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?’, receiving the ultimate reference – former Commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield’s backing for her application to train to be an astronaut when the space agency ESA next take on astronaut recruits.
Suzie said: "There's loads of things I love about my job, it's hard to pick just one. I really enjoy the travel- I get to go all over the world to attend meetings and conferences talking to people about my research. Sometimes I'm the first person to see data that's come back from another planet and try to find out what's going on- that's really exciting.
"Having a job like mine, every day is not a 'work day'. I really enjoy my job.. and I think doing a job you enjoy is the most important thing of all because life is too short to do a job you hate."
Watch the UK Space Agency's video:
The University of Leicester’s leading role in space research and technologies will be represented at the GREAT Festival of Innovation from 21 - 24 March in Hong Kong organised by the UK’s Department for International Trade. Suzie will join representatives of the University in talking about some of the latest exciting developments to come from space science and space-enabled technologies. The GREAT Festival of Innovation will explore how innovation impacts the way we LIVE, WORK, PLAY and LEARN with an impressive line-up of thought leaders and entrepreneurs from business, education, culture, media and technology.
In February, Suzie also appeared in an episode of Channel 4’s ‘The Secret Life of 4 and 5 Year Olds’ where she spoke to young girls about pursuing a career in space science. The episode, which was broadcast on 6 February to mark 100 years since women first won the right to vote in the UK, was an all-girl special revealing how girls see themselves and the role of women. Suzie spoke to a number of eager pupils about space, answering a range of questions – including if space rocks were responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs.
Suzie’s current research at our University looks at terrestrial space weather and Mercury’s magnetosphere, and during a recent appearance on The One Show she showed a replica of the X-ray spectrometer designed and constructed by a team of Leicester scientists, engineers and technicians which will be aboard the pioneering BepiColombo mission to Mercury.