CV

Information below updated: 4 June 2024

DOWNLOAD copy of short CV (4-pages)

Professional Appointments:

Associate Professor in Astrophysics
University of Bristol, School of Physics

(Aug 2023 – present; Senior Lecturer Feb 2023 – Aug 2023; Lecturer Feb 2020 – Feb 2023)

Giacconi Fellow
Space Telescope Science Institute, Science Mission Office
(Nov 2017 – Jan 2020)

Senior Research Fellow.
University of Exeter, Astrophysics Group
(July 2017 – Nov 2017)

NASA Postdoctoral Fellow
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Planetary Systems Lab
(Aug 2015 – May 2017)

Education:

PhD Physics
University of Exeter
(2011 – 2015)
Dissertation title: “Cloudy with a chance of water:Investigating hot Jupiter exoplanet atmospheres through observation and analysis”

MPhys Physics with Planetary and Space Physics
University of Wales: Aberystwyth
(2007 – 2011)
Dissertation title: “Relating geomagnetic substorm observations in the upper polar atmosphere to large scale solar CME events”

Masters program taken as part of 4-year MPhys
University Center in Svalbard (UNIS) 
(2011)
Courses undertaken: Radar diagnostics of space plasma; The upper Polar atmosphere.

Selected Honours and Awards:

2024: NASA Exoplanets ExoGuide

2022: Fellow of Advanced HE: accreditation for teaching in higher education

2020: STScI Achievement Award: successful deployment of ExoCTK

2017: Geological Society of Washington’s Bradley award for Best Paper

2016: NASA Robert H. Goddard Honor Award – individual recognition award for scientific achievement

2016: Winner of the NASA@Work public engagement video competition

2015: XMedia Award Winner of Best Show for The Science Hour on XpressionFM

2015: XMedia Award Winner of Best Innovation for Top Female Scientists Card Game by The Science Hour on XpressionFM

2014: National grand prize winner of the “3 Minute Wonder” competition by the Institute of Physics.

2013: South West Regional winner of the “3 Minute Wonder” competition by the Institute of Physics.

2013: BBC Academy Expert Women – selected in the top 3% of all national candidates.

Research Grants/Awards:

2023: ERC Starting Grant: Administered by UKRI under UK Government Horizon Europe Funding. £1.5M for 5 years

2020: STFC Consolidated Grant: Project PI. £410k for 3yr PDRA effort + 15% PI FTE

2017: Giacconi Prize Fellowship: $302k 3yr postdoctoral fellowship

2015: NASA Postdoctoral Position: $171k 2yr postdoctoral fellowship

2011: STFC PhD Scholarship: University of Exeter

2010: RAS Summer Internship program: £1k 10 weeks

Publications:

For list of academic publications please see the publications tab, which contains a link to the full NASA/ADS list.

Press associated releases can be found in the CV/press release tab

Popular Science Books:

Bang!! The Complete History of the Universe, Brian May, Patrick Moore, Chris Lintott, Hannah Wakeford; Wellbeck Publishing, 2021

Observing Time/Grants:

JWST PI & Science PI

1. GO-2667 –  Wakeford, Hannah, Alderson, Lili, Batalha, Natasha, Gao, Peter, Kataria, Tiffany, Lewis, Nikole, Marley, Mark S., Moran, Sarah E., Powell, Diana, Sing, David K., Stevenson, Kevin, & Valenti, Jeff A. (2021), Good vibrations: Directly measuring Exoplanet aerosol compositions with MIRI spectroscopy, JWST Proposal. Cycle 1, 9.4 hours, PI
2. GTO-1353 – Lewis, Nikole, Clampin, Mark, Mountain, Matthew, Seager, Sarah, Stevenson, Kevin B., Valenti, Jeff, Batalha, Natasha, Espinoza, Néstor, Ranjan, Sukrit, & Wakeford, Hannah (2005-2017), Transit and Eclipse Spectroscopy of a Hot Jupiter, JWST Proposal, Cycle 0 Guaranteed Time Observations, 74.9 hours,  Subject level lead and Science-PI

Hubble PI & Science PI

1. GO 17405 – Batalha, Natasha & Wakeford, Hannah HST-GO-17418 Upon Reflection: Unveiling a Cloud Transition with a High-Precision Reflected Light Spectrum
2. GO 17183 – Wakeford, Hannah, Alderson, Lili, Batalha, Natasha, Grant, David, Lewis, Nikole, Lopez-Morales, Mercedes, MacDonald, Ryan, Marley, Mark, Moran, Sarah E. & Ohno, Kazumasa (2022) Hubble Ultraviolet-optical Survey of Transiting Legacy Exoplanets (HUSTLE) treasury program , HST Proposal, Cycle 30, 122 orbits, PI
3. GO 14918 – Wakeford, Hannah, Batalha, Natasha, Clampin, Mark, Kataria, Tiffany, Lewis, Nikole, & Sing, David K. (2017), Definitive measurement of WASP-17b’s water abundance in preparation for JWST , HST Proposal, Cycle 24, 10 orbits, PI
4. GO-15304 – de Wit, Julien, Wakeford, Hannah, Lewis, Nikole, et. al., (2017) Collecting the Puzzle Pieces: Completing HST’s UV+NIR Survey of the TRAPPIST-1 System ahead of JWST, HST Proposal, Cycle 25, 114 orbits, Science PI of G141 data

JWST Co-I Programs

*denote those PI’d by members of my research team

1. GO-06456 – Using stellar contamination proxy TRAPPIST-1 b to search for an atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1 e
2. GO-05866 – Oceans of Uncertainty: A Veritable Waterworld or a Desolate Wasteland?
3. GO-05844 – Starspots, Hazes, and Disequilibrium Chemistry: A Deep Dive into the Atmosphere of HAT-P-18b
4. *GO-05687 – Unlocking New Dimensions in Eclipse Mapping with KELT-8b
5. AR-05370 – Eyes on the Stars: A JWST Population Survey of Exoplanet Host Star Heterogeneities and Spectral Contributions to Transits
6. GO-05311 – Continuing the Legacy of AU Mic: Simultaneous FUV and NIR Observations of AU Mic b
7. GO-04227 – Chemistry and Clouds of a Temperate Jupiter
8. *GO-04105 –  Not Your Normal Neptune: Exploring the Chemical Processes at Play in HAT-P-11b
9. GO-03838 – Does atmospheric composition actually trace formation? Observing aligned vs misaligned hot Jupiters as a testbed
10. GO-03154  – Testing the C/O Ratio Prediction for Hot Jupiters from Disk-Free Migration
11. GO-02512 – Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Unveiling Small Planet Atmospheres with a Population-Level Framework
12. GO-02288 – Formation and impact of silicate clouds on L dwarfs
13. GO-01981 – Tell Me How I’m Supposed To Breathe With No Air: Measuring the Prevalence and Diversity of M-Dwarf Planet Atmospheres
14. GO-01729 – A NIRSpec Phase Curve for the ultrahot Jupiter WASP-121b
15. ERS-01366  – The Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Program
16. GTO-1312 – Transit and Eclipse Spectroscopy of a Warm Neptune
17. GTO-1331 – Transit Spectroscopy of TRAPPIST-1e

Hubble Co-I

1. GO-17613  – Continuing the Legacy of AU Mic: Simultaneous FUV and NIR Observations of AU Mic b
2. AR-17558  – Sulfur Vision! Refining our view of sulfur-containing UV opacities for exoplanet atmospheres
3. AR-17551  – Unlocking the Stellar Treasure Trove: A Legacy Library of Stellar Hosts’ Heterogeneities, Activity, and Spectral Contributions from HST Exoplanet Data
4. GO-17162  – The HST/JWST synergy: A deep dive into the NUV with WASP-39b to answer key formation questions
5. GO-16915  – Unravelling the Mysteries of LTT 9779 b – Studying Clouds that Shouldn’t Exist on a Planet that Shouldn’t Exist
6. GO-16736  – A Comparative Study of Planetary Atmospheres in Low-Metallicity Environments
7. GO-16695 – Cloudy mornings and clear afternoons: mapping atmospheric dynamics at the limbs of an exceptional hot Saturn
8. AR-16634 – Sculpting Hubble’s Exoplanet Legacy: A Comprehensive Uniform Dataset of Exoplanet Transmission Spectra
9. GO-16450 – Measuring the Rock-to-Ice Ratio in an Exoplanet
10. GO-16270 – Heavy Metal Bands: A Study of Ions Escaping from the Hottest Jovian Atmospheres
11. GO-16180 – Constructing the First Spectroscopic, Multi-Dimensional Map of a Hot Jupiter
12. GO-16039 – Characterizing the outstanding super-Earth LTT 1445Ab
13. GO-15838 – How hot is the inside of a young planet?
14. GO-15836 – A deep look into the atmosphere of an exoplanet around a pre-main sequence star
15. GO-15473 – WFC3-UVIS Eclipse Observation of WASP-43b: Helping James Webb See Through the Clouds
16. GO-15469 – Characterizing a new prototype Saturn-mass exoplanet with the clearest atmosphere yet
17. GO-15288 – How small and how high? Enabling UV exoplanet cloud and exosphere science with WFC3/UVIS
18. GO-15138  – The Atmosphere of an Extremely Low Density Super-Earth Mass Planet
19. GO-15135 – An exoplanet with a stratosphere: seeking the unknown absorber
20. GO-15134 – A global map of thermal inversions for an ultra-hot planet
21. GO/DD-14900 – Confirming the Presence of an Hydrogen Exosphere around the Earth-sized Temperate Planet TRAPPIST-1c
22. GO/DD-14873 – Exploratory observations of the TRAPPIST-1 system: essential prelude to an immediate JWST follow-up
23. GO-14767 – The Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanetary Treasury Program
24. GO-14642 – A Preparatory Program to Identify the Single Best Transiting Exoplanet for JWST Early Release Science
25. GO-14619 – Characterising the atmosphere of a uniquely low-density, sub-Saturn mass planet
26. GO-14468 – Characterizing an extreme planet on the verge of tidal disruption
27. GO-14169 – Measuring the absolute H2O abundance of WASP-39b’s atmosphere
28. GO-14110 – Charaterizing the atmosphere of the enlarged Neptune-mass planet HAT-P-26b
29. GO-14099 – Measuring the L-T transition for a warm Saturn exoplanet

Supervision/Line Manager:

2024 – 2028               Ailsa Chapman, PhD student, School of Physics grant, University of Bristol, UK

2024 –                         Dr Katy Chubb, Postdoctoral Senior Research Associate, ERC Grant, University of Bristol, UK

2023 – 2027              Charlotte Fairman, PhD student, School of Physics grant, University of Bristol, UK

2023 – 2027              Daniel Valentine, PhD student, STFC/School of Physics, University of Bristol, UK

2022 – 2023              Charlotte Fairman, MSc by Research student, University of Bristol, UK

2022 – 2026              Matt Lodge, PhD student, School of Physics grant, University of Bristol, UK

2021 – 2024              Dr David Grant, Postdoctoral Senior Research Associate, STFC Consolidated Grant (2021-2023) / ERC grant (2024), University of Bristol, UK

2020 – 2024              Lili Alderson, PhD student, STFC/School of Physics grant, University of Bristol, UK

2018 – 2020              Iva Laginja, Research Instrument Analyst, 0.1 FTE for 3 years as part of GO-14918, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA

2018 – 2020.             Jules Fowler, Research Instrument Analyst, 0.05 FTE as part of GO-15304 for 2 years, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA

Teaching Activities:

2020 –              Unit Director – 3^rd year Environmental Physics (20 credit), University of Bristol, UK

2021 – 2023     Research Project Supervisor – 4^th year MPhys (60 credits), University of Bristol, UK

2021 – 2023     Project Supervisor – 3^rd year MSci Labs (30 credits), University of Bristol, UK

2020 – 2023     Lecturer – 1^st year Stars and Planets (20 credit), University of Bristol, UK

2018 – 2019     Guest lecturer – non-majors, Planets, Life & the Universe, Johns Hopkins University, USA

2017 – 2018     Guest Expert (20 lectures) – Astronomy for the non-Astronomer course, STScI, USA

2013 – 2015     Guest Expert – post-graduate course, Communicating your research, Uni. of Exeter, UK

Committees and Service:

2024 –               Habitable Worlds Observatory, Characterizing Exoplanets Steering Committee member

2024 –               STScI Equitable Data Access Advisory Committee

2022 – 2025     Hubble Space Telescope Users Committee (STUC) Member, STScI, USA

2021 – 2023     Research Committee member, School of Physics, University of Bristol, UK

2021 – 2023    Sustainability Committee Academic Chair, School of Physics, University of Bristol, UK

2021 – 2023     Early Career Forum Chair, School of Physics, University of Bristol, UK

2021 – 2023     Admissions and Open Day Team member, School of Physics, University of Bristol, UK

2020 – 2023     Marketing Chair, School of Physics, University of Bristol, UK

2017 –             JWST DD-ERS Exoplanet Community Program, Transmission working group co-lead

2018 – 2020     Webb Science Content Working Group member, STScI, USA

2017 – 2020     Lead science consultant, The Exoplanet MAST database (exo.MAST), STScI, USA

2016 – 2020     Development team member, Exoplanet Characterization Toolkit (ExoCTK), STScI, USA

Select Scientific Conferences since 2015:

For a full list of attended conferences see link to complete CV at the top of the page.

June 2024: Exoplanet V conference, Leiden, Netherlands – Keynote speaker

Aug 2023: STFC Astronomy Summer School, Invited speaker, Hull, UK
July 2023: Sagan Summer School, Invited talk, Pasadena, USA
July 2023: RAS NAM, Cardiff University, Invited Plenary, Cardiff, UK
May 2023: STScI Spring Symposium, Invited talk, Baltimore, USA
July 2022: RAS NAM, Invited panelist, University of Warwick, UK
June 2022: Gaia Workshop on Astroseismology, Invited Keynote Speaker, Aarhus, Denmark
May 2022: Exoplanets IV, poster presentation, Las Vegas, USA
June 2021: Frontiers of Science UK-V4 Meeting – Cloudy with a chance of water, Invited Poster, The Royal Society, London, UK – ONLINE
Jan 2021: Planets, exoplanets and their systems in a broad and multidisciplinary context – The role of clouds in exoplanet atmospheres, Invited lesson, Advanced school of the IAA-SO, Granada, Spain – ONLINE
Jan 2021: RAS Specilist Discussion Meeting: Exoplanet modelling in the James Webb Era – Observational challenges when interpreting exoplanet atmospheres – Invited talk, The Royal Astronomical Society, London, UK – ONLINE
Jan 2020: Future exploration of the ice giants – The Exoplanet Perspective, The Royal Society, London, UK
Jan 2020: AAS 235th Winter meetin, Honolulu, USA
– Contributed talk (Exoplanet observations with WFC3’s UVIS grism)
Oct 2019: Bash Symposium, Austin, TX, USA (Exoplanet atmospheres)
Aug 2019: Exoclimes V, University of Oxford, UK – Keynote: Observing Terrestrial Exoplanet Targets
Jan 2019: AAS 233rd Winter meeting, Seattle, USA
– Contributed talk (TRAPPIST-1g)
– contributed poster (ExoCast #ExoCup)
– Hyperwall presentation (Characterizing Exoplanets with JWST)
Mar 2018: European Week of Astronomy and Space Science, Liverpool, UK – Invited talks (JWST, Exoplanets)
Mar 2018: UK Exoplanet meeting, Oxford, UK – Contributed talk
Oct 2017: BDExoCon, DE, USA – Invited speaker
July 2017: Transiting Exoplanet Observations with JWST, STScI, MD, USA – Contributed talk
Jan 2017: AAS 229, TX, USA – Contributed talk
Oct 2016: AAS DPS 48/EPSC 11, CA, USA – Contributed talk
Aug 2016: Exoclimes 2016 Conference, BC, Canada – Contributed talk
June 2016: Emerging Research in Exoplanet Science II, Cornell Uni, USA – Contributed talk
Dec 2015: AAS Extreme Solar Systems III conference, Hawaii, USA. Poster
Nov 2015: JWST: Transiting Exopanets workshop, STSci, MD, USA. Workshop Poster
Nov 2015: AAS DPS 47, National Harbor, MD, USA. Dissertation presentation
Sep 2015: Comparative Climate of Terrestrial Planets 2, NASA AMES, USA. Contributed talk
June 2015: From super-Earths to brown dwarfs, IAP, Paris, France – Contributed talk
Mar 2015: UK Exoplanet Meeting, Warwick, UK. Contributed talk

Select Invited Seminars:

For a full list of invited seminar talks see link to complete CV at the top of the page.

May 2024: University of Manchester, Department of Astrophysics Colloquia

Jan 2024: University of Birmingham, School of Physics and Astronomy Colloquia
Jan 2024: University of Leicester, Astrophysics seminar
Nov 2023: Joint Astronomy Colloquium, Max Planck Institute & ESO, Garching, Germany, Colloquia
Oct 2023: Observatory of Geneva, Switzerland, Colloquia
Jan 2023: University of Oxford, UK, Colloquia
Dec 2022: Max Planck Institute of Astrophysics, Heidelberg, Germany, Colloquia
Feb 2022: Queen Mary, University of London, Astrophysics Seminar – ONLINE
Dec 2021: IPAC Colloquia, Caltech, USA – ONLINE (postponed from May 2021 due to appendicitis)
Nov 2021: University of Exeter, Astrophysics Seminar Series – ONLINE
Feb 2021: UCL Astrophysics Seminar Series – ONLINE
Nov 2020: University of Bristol Physics Colloquia – ONLINE
July 2020: Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UK – Remote lockdown talk
June 2020: University of Oxford, UK – Physics seminar – Remote lockdown talk
May 2020: Imperial College London, UK – Remote lockdown talk
Feb 2020: University of Bristol, UK – Astrophysics seminar
Apr 2019: American Museum of Natural History, NYC, USA – Astrophysics event
Mar 2019: University of California: Santa Cruz, CA, USA – OWL seminar
Oct 2018: Cornell University, NY, USA – Planetary Lunch Seminar
Aug 2018: University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands – API seminar series.
July 2018: University of Leicester, UK – Colloquium Speaker.
Feb 2017: University of Arizona, AZ, USA – Origins seminar series.
Nov 2016: Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA – CEHW seminar.
Oct 2016: University of California: Santa Cruz, CA, USA – OWL seminar.
Oct 2016: California Institute of Technology, CA, USA – Astrophysics seminar. Oct 2016: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CA, USA – Exochem seminar.
Apr 2016: University of Oxford, UK – Planetary seminar.
Apr 2016: University of Cambridge, UK – Astronomy seminar.
Mar 2016: University of Delaware, DE, USA – Astronomy seminar
Nov 2015: Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, MA, USA – Astrophysics seminar.
Oct 2015: Carnegie DTM, Washington DC, USA – DTM seminar.

Scientific Communication and Public Engagement: