What A-Levels did you study?     Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths

Age: 27

My job is….

I am an astrobiologist – a researcher looking into where life might exist beyond Earth. Obviously we haven’t found any examples of extraterrestrial life (yet!), so astrobiology is all about understanding what life actually is, what conditions it requires to survive, where else in the cosmos it might have arisen and how to spot it. My particular research at the moment, at University College London, is into the possibility of microbial life surviving in the soils of Mars, a place where it’s very cold and dry, and bathed in radiation from space.

Home is…..

At the moment I’m living with a mate in North London – Islington. The house is slap bang in-between where I work at UCL and Upper Street with all its restaurants and bars… My ancestral home, if you like, is in Berkshire, where my parents still are. We moved all over the world during my childhood, however, and I’ve lived in Saudi, Kenya and Bahrain …

The story so far….

So I guess the first thing you’re going to want to know is why on Earth I got into searching for aliens… Well, to be honest, it’s something I’ve been utterly fascinated with since I was a wee lad, and so I jumped at the chance to organise a PhD in astrobiology for myself. After my first degree (in Biology) I was accepted into a new department at UCL, called CoMPLEX – a snazzy acronym for a real mouthful of a name (the ‘Centre fOr Mathematics and Physics in the Life science and Experimental biology’, since you ask…). This centre was set-up specifically to support interdisciplinary research and they fund all kinds of interesting research. So astrobiology it was!

Before UCL, my undergraduate degree was at Queen’s College, Oxford, and before that I was at boarding school and flying home to Kenya every holiday where my family was living at the time.

Day in the life

I’ve got a beautiful commute in the mornings – walking along the Regent’s Canal towards UCL. But if I know I’ll need to go elsewhere during the day, I’ll brave the rush hour London traffic and ride my Steed (an old yellow racing bike) into the labs.

First task of the day is always to catch up with emails on my laptop, cradling a cup of coffee. If there have been any recent news releases or interesting papers published, I’ll hunt them down on the internet and have a skim read.

The main meat of my research is into the effects of cosmic radiation on places where alien life might be found. I split my time between designing and running computer simulations of this energetic radiation and getting my hands dirty doing bench work in a microbiology lab.

My days are often nicely punctuated by meetings, seminars or talks on interesting topics, and occasionally taking tutorials with students. Lunch always provides a welcome escape, a chance to catch up with university friends or talk through ideas. I do like to work a little later into the evening, and will generally leave the Department around 7 pm – perfect time for a cheeky pint or to head straight home for some dinner.

Pet project

Alongside my research, I find time for a lot of popular science writing. I write everything from short newspaper pieces to full magazine feature articles, and have also published a book, called ‘Life in the Universe: A Beginner’s Guide’. This is an introduction to the whole field of astrobiology, and I still get a massive kick every time I see it on the shelf in a bookshop.

Not only does freelance writing bring in some handy pocket money, but I find it the perfect excuse for reading up on incredibly varied topics and allowing a more creative approach to science; retelling a fascinating story in everyday language. I’ve published articles on everything from how the leopard gets its spots to how NASA is hoping to generate artificial gravity on spaceships (you can read all of my articles from my website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbplrd/).

My most recent project is gathering together all the background info I need to begin writing another popular science book.

Free time

I find the popular science writing very relaxing, and also really satisfying once I’ve finished a piece and emailed it back to the editor. And call me middle-aged, but I do love having massive cook-ups at home with a crowd of friends, and spending an entire Sunday afternoon feeling over-full and gossiping with everyone...!

What are your burning ambitions?

Once space tourism gets up and running I’d give my left leg to reach orbit. Floating around weightless and peering down on the Earth – bliss!

The best thing is…..

Astrobiology is an incredibly varied field of research, which means it can sometimes be frustrating feeling like you’re always out on a limb trying to understand something completely different, but it’s certainly always fascinating and exciting. There’s loads of travel to conferences all over the world, and you can take some holiday time afterwards wherever you are. This winter I found myself discussing the origins of life in a Finnish sauna with a bunch of sweaty naked professors!

Any regret(s)?

I can’t really grumble to be honest – I’ve got into some research I find really interesting and enjoy what I do!

What do you love most about science and engineering?

The thing that always depressed me at school is that science isn’t really about learning lists of names for things – it’s about understanding the world around you and explaining how it all works. I love doing science because every day is like attacking a different puzzle.

Name ONE quirky/crazy fact about your or your job.

A quirky fact other than that I look for aliens…? How about that I’m a qualified skydiver but I never remember to close my mouth and always land incredibly dry-throated!