Maggie Aderin-Pocock – Keynote Speaker

Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE is a space scientist whose passion is presenting science to a general audience and demonstrating that you ‘don’t need a brain the size of a small planet’ to understand, participate in and enjoy science. Her BBC 2 programme, “Do We Really Need the Moon?” showed just that. The programme earned Maggie the talkback Thames new talent award at the prestigious Women in Film and TV Awards in December 2011. She went on to present “Do We Really Need Satellites?” and was one of the main scientists on Channel 4’s Brave New World.

She is currently presenting Sky at Night on BBC 4, Mini Stargazing for Cbeebies and is a panellist on Sky One’s successful science quiz show, ‘Ducks Quack Don’t Echo’. She also makes regular appearances on The One Show, Newsnight and Woman’s Hour and was a guest on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. Her book ‘The Sky at Night’s Book of the Moon’ (BBC Books) was published in September 2018 and her children’s book ‘Dr Maggie’s Grand Tour of the Solar System’ (Michael O’Mara) is out now.

From a modest background and diagnosed with dyslexia, Maggie Aderin-Pocock showed great fortitude in winning a place to study at Imperial College where she obtained her degree in Physics and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. After her studies, she toured the UK speaking to inner-city schools about what scientists do, why they do it, and how to be one with the aim of inspiring the next generation of physicists. Since then she has spent much of her career making novel, bespoke instrumentation ranging from hand held land mine detectors to an optical subsystem for the James Webb Space Telescope.

To further share her love of science Maggie conducts “Tours of the Universe” and other public engagement activities, showing school children and adults around the world the wonders of space.