Dr Leah-Nani Alconcel PhD, FHEA, MRAeS

Dr Leah-Nani Alconcel

School of Metallurgy and Materials
Associate Professor

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0) 121 414 5810
Email
l.alconcel@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@metmat_unibham
View my research portal
Address
School of Metallurgy & Materials
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

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 payload instrument development and calibration, space situational awareness from space-based platforms, data management and 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.

Qualifications

  • 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

Biography

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 payload instrument development and calibration, space situational awareness from space-based platforms, data management and 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.

 

Dr Alconcel has over 18 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). Please see our dedicated page for this work: https://www.bham.ac.uk/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 particularly in aerospace and space engineering. She actively strives to recruit and retain a diverse student cohort to the School’s courses.

Teaching

MSc Space Engineering

Dr Alconcel 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
  • Communications, Ethics and Teamwork for Space Missions
  • CubeSat Design
She also supervises individual research projects.

Postgraduate supervision

Current PhD students

  • Gruffudd Jones, “Space-based Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR)”, 2022-2025
  • Theo Hart, "Techniques for Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and space sustainability", 2024-2028
  • Emmanuel Karikari, "Space-based solutions for improved space sustainability", 2024-2028

Future PhD opportunities will be advertised via findaphd.com. 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.

Research

space payload instrumentation, space domain awareness, orbital dynamics, orbital mechanics, SWaP, space systems, space instrument data calibration, space instrument data archiving

Other activities

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

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Alconcel, L-N, Brown, P, Oddy, T & Carr, CM 2026, 'Long-Term Trends in the Calibration of the Cluster Fluxgate Magnetometer Instruments', Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 131, no. 6, e2026JA035179. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026JA035179

Canu, P, Bouzid, V, Piberne, R, Cornilleau‐Wehrlin, N, Katra, R, Carr, C, Alconcel, LN, Yearby, K, Robert, P, Lacombe, C, de Conchy, Y, Grison, B, Santolik, O, Soucek, J, Le Contel, O & Baraka, M 2026, 'STAFF Instrument Calibration, Sensitivity, and Performance Evolutions During the Cluster Mission', Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 131, no. 6, e2026JA035072. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026JA035072

Jones, G, Coe, M, Hart, T, Alconcel, L-N & Gashinova, M 2026, 'Toward Co-Operative Space Domain Awareness (CoSDA): Space-Based Sub-THz Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar', IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 62, pp. 2728-2739. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAES.2025.3643845

Jones, G, Coe, M, Beesley, L, Alconcel, L-N, Martorella, M & Gashinova, M 2025, 'Strategies for Monitoring of Assets in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) using Space-based Sub-THz Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR)', IEEE Transactions on Radar Systems, vol. 3, pp. 656-667. https://doi.org/10.1109/TRS.2025.3556323

Bousiotis, D, Alconcel, LS, Beddows, D, Harrison, R & Pope, F 2023, 'Monitoring and Apportioning Sources of Indoor Air Quality Using Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors', Environment International, vol. 174, 107907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.107907

Conference contribution

Alconcel, LS, Beesley, L, Jones, G, Gashinova, M & Coe, M 2025, Co-operative Optical and Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) Systems for High-Resolution In-Orbit Conditional Monitoring of Satellites. in Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference: Technical Papers – 2025. AMOS conference proceedings, AMOS Digital Library, 26th Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference, Wailea, Hawaii, United States, 16/09/25. <https://amostech.space/year/2025/co-operative-optical-and-inverse-synthetic-aperture-radar-isar-systems-for-high-resolution-in-orbit-conditional-monitoring-of-satellites/>

Kumar, D, Jones, G, Coe, M, Beesley, L, Alconcel, L-N, Cherniakov, M & Gashinova, M 2025, Imaging Shadows with Sub-THz ISAR for Space-Borne Targets. in 2025 26th International Radar Symposium (IRS). Proceedings International Radar Symposium, IEEE, pp. 1-6, 26th International Radar Symposium, IRS 2025, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 21/05/25. https://doi.org/10.23919/IRS64527.2025.11046138

Jones, G, Beesley, L, Coe, M, Alconcel, LN, Martorella, M & Gashinova, M 2025, Orbital Deployment Scenarios for Geostationary Asset Monitoring Using Sub-THz ISAR. in M Rupniewski, S Blunt, J Misiurewicz, MS Greco & B Himed (eds), 2025 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf25). Proceedings of the IEEE Radar Conference, IEEE, pp. 1176-1181, 2025 IEEE Radar Conference, RadarConf 2025, Krakow, Poland, 4/10/25. https://doi.org/10.1109/RadarConf2559087.2025.11205169

Jones, G, Coe, M, Marchetti, E, Alconcel, LN, Cherniakov, M & Gashinova, M 2024, Novel Simulation Method for Sub-THz ISAR Imaging of Space Objects. in 24 21st European Radar Conference (EuRAD)., 10734967, European Radar Conference (EURAD), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 272-275, 21st European Radar Conference, EuRAD 2024, Paris, France, 25/09/24. https://doi.org/10.23919/EuRAD61604.2024.10734967

Coe, M, Jones, G, Gashinova, M, Cherniakov, M, Martorella, M, Alconcel, LN & Marchetti, E 2024, Segmentation and Classification of Sub-THz ISAR Imagery. in 2024 International Radar Symposium (IRS). Proceedings International Radar Symposium, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 233-238, 25th International Radar Symposium, IRS 2024, Wroclaw, Poland, 2/07/24. <https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10645054>

Jones, G, Coe, M, Alconcel, LS, Cherniakov, M & Gashinova, M 2024, Space-based Sub-THz Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) Image Formation and Orbital Optimisation for Monitoring of Geostationary Assets. in EGU General Assembly 2024., EGU24-8823, EGUsphere, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14/04/24. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-8823

Alconcel, L-N, Jones, G, Coe, M, Gashinova, M & Cherniakov, M 2024, Sub-Terahertz Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) for monitoring of high-value space assets . in EGU General Assembly 2024., EGU24-8635, EGUsphere, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14/04/24. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-8635

Bousiotis, D, Alconcel, L-N, Harrison, RM, Beddows, DCS & Pope, F 2023, Monitoring and apportioning sources of outdoor and indoor air quality using low-cost particulate matter sensors. in EGU General Assembly 2023., EGU23-1011, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24/04/23. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-1011

Alconcel, L-N, Oddy, T, Brown, P & Carr, C 2023, Sense-checking the calibration of the Cluster FGM magnetometer spin-axis offsets using mirror mode waves in the magnetosheath. in EGU General Assembly 2023., EGU23-10104, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24/04/23. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-10104

Poster

Alconcel, LS, Jones, G, Coe, M, Gashinova, M & Marchetti, E 2023, 'Sub-Terahertz Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) for improved Space Domain Awareness (SDA)', UK Space Conference 2023, Belfast, United Kingdom, 21/11/23 - 23/11/23.

View all publications in research portal