Dr Leah-Nani Alconcel PhD, FHEA, MRAeS

• PhD – University of California, San Diego
• MSc – University of California, San Diego
• BSc – University of Southern California
• Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society
• Fellow of Advance HE

Dr Alconcel is a spacecraft engineer and associate professor in the School of Metallurgy and Materials. She leads the MSc programme in Space Engineering. She has research interests in space situational awareness using ground- and space-based optical and radar techniques, payload instrument development and calibration, equitable data access for space, and improving inclusivity in research culture. Dr Alconcel has won research and public engagement grants from the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK Space Agency and EPSRC. She is a co-investigator on the UKRI-EPSRC Quantum Technologies Hub in Sensing, Imaging and Timing (QuSIT, 2024-2029), the EPSRC projects “Multi-dimensional quantum-enabled sub-THz Space-Borne ISAR sensing for space domain awareness and critical infrastructure monitoring – SBISAR” (EP/Y022092/1, 2024-2027) and “Space Communications and Sensing Laboratory – SCSLab” (2026-2030).

Dr Alconcel has over 20 years of experience working as an engineer and manager on planetary exploration missions throughout the solar system including the Cassini mission to Saturn, JUICE mission to the Jovian system, and the Cluster multi-spacecraft mission investigating the Earth’s magnetosphere. She has worked on the full life cycle of space missions, from concept and design through to build, launch, operations and end-of-life. She is currently working with colleagues in the Pervasive Sensing group in the School of Engineering on space-based inverse synthetic aperture radar systems for improved Space Domain Awareness (SDA). We have conducted end-to-end modelling of the system for deployment in LEO and GEO, rapid simulation of the resulting imagery, and used machine learning techniques to segment, classify, and extract features from aligned sequences of images. Please see our dedicated page for this work: SDA.

Dr Alconcel has long-standing interests in both photography and public engagement in science and engineering. She has developed funded engagement projects for the Royal Academy of Engineering (Ingenious Award, 2021-22) and the UK Space Agency (Space for All, 2022-23). She is passionate about inclusivity in STEM teaching and research. With Dr Lizzie Driscoll, she has received funding from the Royal Society of Chemistry for “Project Pipeline”, which is aimed at addressing the hidden curriculum for women postdoctoral researchers in the chemical sciences.

Leah-Nani teaches space-focused material for the UG Aerospace programme and the PG Space Engineering masters programme. She leads the following modules:

• Space Mission Analysis and Design
• Human Spaceflight Critique
• CubeSat Design

She also supervises individual research projects.

Current PhD students

• Gruffudd Jones, “Space-borne Sub-THz Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar for Space Domain Awareness”, 2022-2026
• Morgan Coe, “Terahertz ISAR Image Formation for Space-to-Space Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance”, 2022-2026
• Theo Hart, "Long-Term Evolution of the Rotation Periods of Inactive Resident Space Objects", 2024-2028
• Emmanuel Karikari, "Assessing space data archives using the FAIR principles", 2024-2028
• Riley Wilkins, “Instrumentation and modelling for Space Situational Awareness”, 2025-2029
• Nina Maric, “Development of a Novel Curved Optical Sensor for Imaging Resident Space Objects (RSOs)”, 2026-2030

Future PhD opportunities will be advertised via findaphd. Students wishing to express an interest in PhD research with Dr Alconcel should send an e-mail outlining their areas of interest and expertise, as well as how these align with her research. Please also attach an up-to-date CV.

Dr Alconcel co-leads the Space Research Group (SRG) with Dr Lily Beesley and Professor Hugo Williams in the School of Metallurgy and Materials. The SRG aims to identify and characterise resident space objects, using on-sky observations and simulation tools validated with laboratory measurements.

The SRG designs and models sensing systems operating at a variety of wavelengths (optical, infrared, and radar) and in different modes (frame- and event-based). The group aims to make its tools accessible to all through open-source sharing. Through the PGT Space Engineering programme and the group’s PhD projects, the SRG trains the engineers who will build and run these systems.

Funded policy work

• Midlands Space Cluster Development group – University of Birmingham PI (2023-25)
• Space Academic Network Fellow (2021-22), case study highlight (pdf)

Voluntary work

• Midlands Innovation Space Group member (2023 onward)
• Women in Aerospace – Europe (WIA-Europe) UK committee member, white paper author “Visibility of Female Experts”
• Space Universities Network (SUN UK) committee member
• Royal Aeronautical Society ALTA mentor for women in the UK aerospace sector