Suzie Imber – Keynote Speaker

Space Scientist, Mountaineer, Explorer

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Specialist Subjects

Identifying and Climbing Unclimbed Mountains
The future of the space industry and exploration
The history, and future, of human spaceflight
Climate change and what we can do about it
Earth observation, and how we can use satellite data for humanitarian and societal benefit
Climate Leadership
Antarctica Voyage
Writing computer code to identify mountains, and launching expeditions to achieve first ascents
Becoming an international athlete, Mountaineer & Space Scientist
BBC's Astronauts series

Topics

Language

English

Biography

Suzie achieved international recognition when she won the BBC2 TV series ‘Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?’ in which 12 candidates underwent astronaut training with Commander Chris Hadfield. The challenges including taking their own blood, speaking Russian while in a centrifuge at 5g, and carrying out emergency procedures on the NASA undersea astronaut training facility, Aquarius. Suzie received a letter of recommendation from Chris Hadfield supporting her application to the European Space Agency astronaut training programme.

Her “daytime job” is as Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester, where she specialises in studying the impact of the solar wind on the planets in our solar system, particularly the Earth and Mercury. Currently, she works in Operations Planning for the BepiColombo spacecraft, due to arrive at Mercury in 2025. She was made a full Professor in 2023.

In 2019, Suzie was selected for Homeward Bound, a global leadership programme to train 100 women to become the next generation of leaders in the fight against climate change. Culminating in a 3-week voyage to Antarctica (scheduled 2023), the programme includes leadership style and mentality, effective communication, building teams, personal and organisational strategy, mental health and wellbeing.

With extensive experience of speaking at live stage events, including music and science festivals, Suzie was invited to perform at “Space Shambles” at the Royal Albert Hall, London, appearing with Professor Brian Cox, Robin Ince, astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield, and Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart. She has spoken at many science festivals, including BlueDot, Gravity Fields, Cheltenham, Farnborough Air Show, New Scientist Live, Latitude, AstroFest, SpaceRocks and the Virgin Galactic Space Festival (US).

Suzie has spoken at many conferences and seminars in the UK, Europe, the US and Russia, most often as a keynote speaker. She has chaired conference sessions and served on event organising committees.

Recent testimonials

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Suzie on multiple projects, both for our own AstroAgency events and also in collaboration with partners such as the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), UK Space Agency and Space Scotland (together with Scottish Government). Suzie’s presentation and speaking skills are exceptional, but what further distinguishes Suzie is her level of understanding on such a wide range of topics, particularly in the realm of space and science. Her engaging style, bringing together enthusiasm and in-depth knowledge, is a rare combination and a hugely effective way to entertain and inform groups of any age. Our team love working with her and our event participants are always left impressed! There is simply nobody we’d rather work with.”

Daniel Smith, Founder of AstroAgency, Director of Space Scotland

“Thank you very much for joining us as the speaker at our flagship Annual Conference. Your talk was greatly inspiring, given the amount you have achieved. It was equally educational on space exploration and on the mindset needed to overcome challenges. We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the audience, who were engaged till the end and appreciated the opportunity to ask questions too”.

CEO, Pensions & Life Savings Association

“Suzie's talk was outstanding: genuinely inspirational - you could hear a pin drop throughout. And it was excellent that she stayed on- even popping in to a few student presentations. Worth every penny of her fee! It was a pleasure dealing with DBA. Thank you for everything you did to ensure things ran smoothly.”

Head of Research, Berkhamsted School

“Best speaker ever. Better feedback about Suzie than when we had Hillary Clinton as our principal speaker!”

Global consulting firm

“Hearing the delegates chatting after Suzie’s presentation was great – it was something completely different from what they have experienced before. Thank you for working with us to bring Suzie to speak.”

Independent Association of Prep Schools Conference

“How brilliant was your talk! You were an inspiration. Great to see and hear from people like you, and to keep on exploring things which some of us couldn’t even imagine! Keep being awesome!”

Pensions & Life Savings Association

“Suzie was absolutely brilliant. We cannot recommend her highly enough. She was so engaging, funny, interesting, and our guests loved her. We’ll definitely book her again. Thanks, Diana for recommending Suzie. Such a successful event”.

Ayrshire Hospice

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