I am a senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado.

My Fellowship concerned an investigation of links between the solar wind and the earth's upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Changes in the solar wind cause changes in the atmosphere, and it is important to be able to know and predict what changes occur, and when, in order to better understand the relationship between our planet and the sun. Doing so allows us to understand long-term (multi-decade) changes to our planet and its upper atmosphere.

The Fellowship itself involved an extended trip to the USA with most time being spent working at University of Texas at Dallas, and using data from the DMSP (Defence Meteorological Satellite Program) satellites to investigate these links. At that point such data were not routinely available. My Fellowship became a large part of the studies for my PhD and allowed me to form the links that led to my current career, still working in the same broad area.