Emma Bunce

Emma Bunce OBE
Emma Bunce in 2016
92nd President of the Royal Astronomical Society
In office 26 June 2020 – May 2022
Preceded by	Mike Cruise
Personal details
Born	Emma J. Bunce 1975 (age 48–49)
Education	Davison High School Worthing College
Alma mater	University of Leicester (MPhys, PhD)
Awards	Chapman Medal (2018) Philip Leverhulme Prize (2011) Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award^[when?]
Scientific career
Fields	Planetary science Planetary magnetospheres[1]
Institutions	University of Leicester
Thesis	Large-scale current systems in the Jovian magnetosphere (2001)
Doctoral advisor	Stan Cowley
Website	le.ac.uk/people/emma-bunce

Emma J. Bunce OBE (born 1975) is a British space physicist and Professor of Planetary Plasma Physics at the University of Leicester.^[1] She holds a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. Her research is on the magnetospheres of Saturn and Jupiter. She is principal investigator (PI) of the MIXS instrument on BepiColombo, was deputy lead on the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer proposal, and co-investigator on the Cassini–Huygens mission.

Bunce served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 26 June 2020^[2] to May 2022.^[3][4]

Early life and education

Bunce grew up in Worthing.^[5] In 1989 she watched the Horizon documentary on Neptune with images taken by Voyager 2 and was inspired to become a space scientist.^[6]

She was educated at Davison High School (a C of E girls school) and Worthing College (a sixth form college), where she graduated in 1994.^[5] She studied physics with space science at the University of Leicester and earned her Master of Physics (MPhys) degree in 1998.^[5]

In 1998 Bunce began her doctoral training with Stan Cowley, investigating the magnetosphere of Jupiter.^[5] Her thesis, Large-scale current systems in the Jovian Magnetosphere, looked at the radial current systems of the middle magnetosphere of Jupiter.^[7] She used data from Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Ulysses.^[8] The interaction between Jupiter and the surrounding plasma environment is influenced by the magnetic field. On Jupiter, the plasma is mainly produced in the volcanic moon Io.^[8]

Research and career

After her graduate studies, Bunce worked as a postdoctoral researcher investigating the Kronian magnetosphere of Saturn in preparation for Cassini–Huygens.^[8] In 2003 Bunce was awarded a Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council fellowship to study the magnetosphere of Saturn.^[5] She continued to study Jupiter's polar auroral emissions.^[9][10] She was appointed to the faculty at the University of Leicester in 2005.^[5]

Bunce was part of the Cassini–Huygens magnetometer team.^[11] She was the first to analyse the UV aurorae of Saturn using the Hubble Space Telescope.^[12][13] The magnetosphere of Saturn rotates rapidly and plasma is produced via sputter of the icy moons.^[5] She monitored the magnetospheric currents of Saturn in situ, identifying that there was a connection between the auroral oval and upward-directed field-aligned currents that flow near open and closed field lines.^[13] She observed the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetosphere of Saturn.^[14] In 2009 she was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society Council^[15] and delivered the society's Harold Jeffreys Lecture.^[14] She discussed her work Jupiter-like aurorae found on saturn.^[16]

She was promoted to reader in 2009 and professor in 2013.^[5] She organised a celebration of ten years of Cassini–Huygens in 2014.^[17] She is the Principal Investigator of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) instrument.^{[18][19][20][21]} MIXS was built in Leicester, launched in 2015 and will travel to Mercury.^[22][23] She delivered the 2016 National Space Academy keynote lecture.^[24] She is the principal investigator of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer instrument on the European Space Agency BepiColombo mission (to Mercury) and deputy lead on the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.^[25] BepiColombo will help to explain some of the mysteries of Mercury, including finding volatile sulphur and potassium.^[26][27] She contributed to the book Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences: A University Level Introduction in 2018.^[28]

Bunce was elected President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2019; she began her term on 26 June 2020^[2] and served two years.^[3]

Public engagement

Emma Bunce in 2016 with Stan Cowley

Bunce has delivered several popular science lectures.^[11][29][30] She has written for The Conversation.^[31]

She spoke at the New Scientist Live event in 2018.^[32]

She was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific in June 2020.^[33]

Honours and awards

Bunce was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to astronomy and science education.^[34][35]

Her other awards and honours include:

• 2020-22 - President of the Royal Astronomical Society^[3]
• 2018 - Chapman Medal^[13]
• 2011 - Philip Leverhulme Prize for Astronomy and Astrophysics^[36]
• 2009 - Harold Jeffreys Lecture^[14]
• 2005 - European Geophysical Union Young Talents in Geoscience Award^[37]
• 2003 - French Academy of Sciences Prix Baron Nicolet award for space physics^[37][38]
• 2002 - awarded the Royal Astronomical Society Blackwell Prize.^[8]

References

1. Emma Bunce publications indexed by Google Scholar
2. @RoyalAstroSoc (26 June 2020). "We are very excited to announce that Professor Emma Bunce has started her two year term as the new president of the Royal Astronomical Society!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
3. Hollis, Morgan (10 May 2019). "Election results 2019: new RAS Council". ras.ac.uk. Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
4. "Election results 2021: New RAS Council".
5. tk74. "Professor Emma Bunce — University of Leicester". www2.le.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
6. Knapton, Sarah (5 July 2016). "Nasa spacecraft Juno's arrival at Jupiter prompts British scientists' celebration: 'We're all feeling very relieved'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
7. Bunce, Emma J. (2001). Large-scale current systems in the Jovian magnetosphere. le.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Leicester. hdl:2381/30647. OCLC 505259820. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.696997. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
8. Anon (2002). "The RAS - Blackwell Prize 2002". www.ras.org.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
9. T., Clarke, John; Denis, Grodent; H., Cowley, Stan W.; J., Bunce, Emma; Philippe, Zarka; P., Connerney, John E.; Takehiko, Satoh (2004). "Jupiter's aurora". Jupiter. The Planet, Satellites and Magnetosphere. 1: 639. Bibcode:2004jpsm.book..639C.
10. Bunce, E. J. (2004). "Jovian cusp processes: Implications for the polar aurora". Journal of Geophysical Research. 109 (A9): A09S13. Bibcode:2004JGRA..109.9S13B. doi:10.1029/2003ja010280. ISSN 0148-0227.
11. "Royal Astronomical Society". www.ras.org.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
12. Massey, Robert. "Cassini makes simultaneous measurements of Saturn's nightside aurora and electric current system". www.ras.org.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
13. "Citation for the 2018 RAS Chapman Medal" (PDF). RAS. 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
14. Jim, Wild (2009). "RAS Awards 2009". Astronomy & Geophysics. 50 (1): 1.34. Bibcode:2009A&G....50a..34.. doi:10.1111/j.1468-4004.2009.50134.x. ISSN 1366-8781.
15. Elliott, David. "RAS Council 2009 Elections Results". www.ras.org.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
16. Stallard, Tom; Miller, Steve; Melin, Henrik; Lystrup, Makenzie; Cowley, Stan W. H.; Bunce, Emma J.; Achilleos, Nicholas; Dougherty, Michele (2008). "Jovian-like aurorae on Saturn". Nature. 453 (7198): 1083–1085. Bibcode:2008Natur.453.1083S. doi:10.1038/nature07077. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 18563160. S2CID 4413780.
17. "Royal Astronomical Society". www.ras.org.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
18. "MIXS". www.mps.mpg.de. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
19. "Mercury Planetary Orbiter Instruments". sci.esa.int. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
20. nb101. "SMILE — University of Leicester". www2.le.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
21. "UK-built tech brings Europe's Mercury mission closer to launch". gov.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
22. "Five Mercury Mysteries for BepiColombo". The National Space Centre. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
23. "Have you got a licence for that rocket?". Astronomy & Geophysics. 56 (4): 4.7.5–4.7. 22 July 2015. doi:10.1093/astrogeo/atv114. ISSN 1366-8781.
24. "National Space Academy - Professor Emma Bunce". nationalspaceacademy.org. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
25. "The Derby and District Astronomical Society" (PDF). Derby Astronomy. 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
26. Amos, Jonathan (6 July 2017). "Mercury mission ready for 'pizza oven'". BBC News. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
27. esa. "Mercury Planetary Orbiter". European Space Agency. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
28. Derek, Raine (2018). Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences. [S.l.]: The Pantaneto Press. ISBN 978-0992941185. OCLC 1032575166.
29. Switzerland, Marc Türler, Dept. of Astronomy, University of Geneva. "EWASS 2018". eas.unige.ch. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
30. "Widgety". www.widgety.co.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
31. "Emma Bunce". The Conversation. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
32. "Emma Bunce". New Scientist Live 2018. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
33. Al-Khalili, Jim (2020). "Emma Bunce on the gas giants". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
34. "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N12.
35. "Awards for New Year 2024" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
36. "Grant winners". Times Higher Education (THE) (in Simplified Chinese). 23 February 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
37. "University of Leicester - Star Prize for University Physicist". www.le.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
38. "Once a physicist...Lord Browne of Madingley". Physics World. 17 (11): 50. 2004. doi:10.1088/2058-7058/17/11/47. ISSN 2058-7058.