Space Weather

Professor Richard Horne is Head of Space Weather at the British Antarctic Survey and Honorary Professor at the University of Sheffield. He has published over 200 research papers on wave-particle interactions, wave propagation and space weather. He led the EU SPACECAST project to develop a space weather forecasting system for satellites, and the EU SPACESTORM project which showed that the risk to satellites from space weather is much higher than previously thought. Richard’s work led to revised hazard assessments for the UK National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies in 2017. He is a member of the Space Environment Impacts Expert Group which provides advice on space weather to the UK Cabinet Office.

In 2020 Richard was awarded the International Kristian Birkeland Medal for Space Weather and Space Climate, the URSI Appleton Prize for research leading to practical space weather forecasting and a Doctor of Science from the University of Cambridge for distinguished research.

Richard is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the International Union of Radio Science, The Royal Astronomical Society and St Edmund’s College Cambridge.

Improving performance of thermodynamic systems

Lachlan Jardine, Mathworks

Future energy systems have to improve efficiency at every stage of design. A key technology along this road to decarbonisation will be the gas turbine, where cooling air has been used to drive system efficiency for over 60 years. However, gas turbine designers are still unsure what thermodynamic penalty this cooling has on component efficiency. There isn’t even a consensus on how to define the efficiency of a cooled turbine.

My research demonstrated a novel mathematical method capable of linking efficiency at every stage of design. In this talk, I would like to share a high-level overview of the method, highlights working with Rolls-Royce to update turbine design tools, and experience from MathWorks improving a wide range of thermodynamic systems.

Lachlan Jardine completed his PhD in the Whittle Laboratory, Cambridge, then worked with Rolls-Royce as a Knowledge Transfer Fellow, before taking his current position as an Application Engineer at the MathWorks. Lachlan specializes in physical modelling and thermodynamic performance, focusing on decarbonising power and propulsion. His work in this area has received many awards, including from the IMechE, Stem for Britain, and the University of Cambridge.

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