Media and outreach
media activity
Since July 2022 I have frequently guested live on the BBC Breakfast sofa to discuss the latest space news. Topics have included:
- March 2025: the UK space industry.
- June 2024: attempted inaugural launch of the crewed Boeing Starliner and the landing of China's Chang'e 6 mission on the far side of the Moon.
- May 2024: the discovery of the nearest potentially habitable, Earth-sized exoplanet, Gliese 12b.
- Dec 2023: waste collection by the Cygnus capsule from the International Space Station.
- Sep 2023: the NASA-commissioned Independent Study Team Report concerning Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP, aka UFOs).
- Jun 2023: the first public meeting of NASA's Independent Study Team concerning Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP, aka UFOs).
- Apr 2023: crew selection for NASA's Artemis 2 mission, the first crewed mission to the Moon in over 50 years.
- Jan 2023: the first Virgin Orbit launch attempt from Spaceport Cornwall, guesting with astronaut Tim Peake.
- Sep 2022: the NASA DART mission to impact on asteroid Dimorphos and alter its orbit.
- Jul 2022: first colour images released from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Aside from my work with BBC Breakfast, other media activities have included:
- December 2024: Live guest on BBC Radio 5 Xmas Eve evening show discussing the Parker Solar Probe close pass of the Sun.
- August 2024: Live guest on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast show discussing water on Mars.
- June 2024: Live guest on BBC Radio 5 Live Sunday Breakfast show discussing the landing of China's Chang'e 6 mission on the far side of the Moon.
- May 2024: Live 1-hour interview as the featured scientist on the Manchester Science programme for All.fm community radio.
- Apr 2023: Featured expert on the BBC World Service CrowdScience episode Is there anyone out there?, discussing the Drake Equation and the possibility of life elswehere in the Universe.
- Sep 2022: Our work on the detectability of Earth to alien civilisations using gravitational lensing featured in an article in Physics World.
- Apr 2022: Our work on the first exoplanet to be discovered from space using microlensing was widely reported by the press, including The Independent and Daily Mail (UK), as well as specialist publications such as Space.com. The planet, K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb, was found from data obtained by the NASA Kepler telescope and is one of the closest exoplanet analogues to Jupiter yet found.
- Sep 2021: Invited guest for an hour long interview on exoplanets and alien life for CVLTURE.TV.
- Jul 2021: Our work on the discovery of Earth-mass free-floating exoplanet microlensing candidates with Kepler was widely reported in international newspapers, including The Independent (UK), as well as numerous specialist publications such as The Register and Space.com.
- Jan 2021: Guest for hour long audio podcast interview for The Buzz.
- Oct 2020: My Work on Mutual Detectability as a game theory strategy for targeted SETI featured in many international newspapers and magazines, such as National Geographic (Spain) and The Daily Express (UK) among others. It was also featured in many specialised publications such as Physics World, Phys.org, Astronomy Magazine, and Discover Magazine, among others.
- May 2020: Expert contributor to the Amazon Audibles podcast series Exoplanets: The Search for Another Earth.
- Oct 2019: Contribution to a piece on the apocalypse for E&T
- Jan 2018: Live interview for the BBC World Service BBC OS show about the Super Blue Blood Moon.
- Jan 2018: Blog on how to survive the apocalypse in The Huffington Post
- Sep 2017: Article on finding another planet to live on for The Conversation. This article was also republished by Newsweek, The Huffington Post and linked to by BBC Tomorrow's World.
- June 2017: Interviewed for Digital Trends story about astronaut Tim Peake.
- Aug 2016: Interviewed by The Guardian on the discovery of our nearest neighbour exoplanet, Proxima b.
- Nov 2014: My work on the detection of the ESA Rosetta Philae Lander touchdown on Comet 67P featured in Phil Plait's "Bad Astronomy" blog.
- Jan 2013 and 2014: Resident expert for Live Q&A during BBC Stargazing Live (Season 3 and via BBC2 Twitter Feed for Season 4)
- Feb 2013: Featured live guest on the Wonder Show (FuseFM Manchester Student Radio).
- Feb 2012: Guest interview on possibility of the alien life for Up All Night on BBC Radio 5 Live.
- Dec 2011: Guest interview about Kepler 22b for Science in Action on the BBC World Service.
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