Dr Lily Beesley PhD

Dr Lily Beesley

School of Metallurgy and Materials
Assistant Professor in Space Engineering

Contact details

Email
l.beesley@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Metallurgy and Materials
Elms Rd
Birmingham
B15 2SE

Lily is an Assistant Professor in the School of Metallurgy and Materials. Her research focuses on Space Situational Awareness, Space Sustainability, and Space Surveillance, aiming to enhance the safety and longevity of space.

Lily also teaches Space Engineering at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels (LI Space Systems Engineering and Design and LM Spacecraft Mechanical Design). She also supervises postgraduate and PhD students.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Physics, University of Durham
  • MPhys in Physics, University of Cardiff

Biography

Lily obtained her PhD from the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation at the University of Durham, where she worked under the supervision of Professor James Osborn and Professor Gordon Love. Her research focused on measuring, modelling, and mitigating atmospheric optical turbulence for satellite-to-ground Free Space Optical Communications. She has presented her work at both national and international conferences and workshops and has collaborated with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Lily co-leads Birmingham’s Space Research Group, where her current research interests lie in Space Situational Awareness, utilising both optical and radar capabilities, as well as Space Sustainability to promote the responsible use of space.

In addition to her research, Lily teaches Space Engineering at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, delivering LI Space Systems Engineering and Design and LM Spacecraft Mechanical Design.

Teaching

  • Module lead for Space Systems Engineering and Design and Spacecraft Mechanical Design

Postgraduate supervision

  • Instrumentation for space surveillance
  • Space surveillance and situational awareness
  • Space sustainability
  • Satellite ablation

Research

  • Space situational awareness and instrumentation for space surveillance
  • Orbital analysis and determination
  • Free-space optical communications
    • modelling of satellite to ground FSOC links
    • measuring optical turbulence in novel environments specific to free-space optical communications
    • optical turbulence mitigation

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Beesley, LF, Griffiths, R, Hartley, K, Farley, OJD, Quatresooz, F, Rodriguez-Gomez, A, Comeron, A, Townson, M, Alaluf, D & Osborn, J 2025, 'A demonstration of 24-hour continuous optical turbulence monitoring in a city', Optics Express, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 10140-10149. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.543144

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

Beesley, LF, Osborn, J, Wilson, R, Farley, OJD, Griffiths, R & Love, GD 2024, 'Exploring atmospheric optical turbulence: observations across zenith angles', Applied Optics, vol. 63, no. 16, pp. E48-E53. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.519063

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

Westerby-Griffin, L, Osborn, J, Farley, OJD, Griffiths, R & Love, GD 2023, Atmospheric optical turbulence analysis in London’s financial district. in H Hemmati & BS Robinson (eds), Proceedings Volume 12413, Free-Space Laser Communications XXXV., 124131F , Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 12413, SPIE, SPIE LASE, San Francisco, California, United States, 28/01/23. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2648907

Westerby-Griffin, L, Osborn, J, Farley, OJD, Griffiths, R & Love, GD 2023, Atmospheric optical turbulence measurements at varying elevation angles. in H Hemmati & BS Robinson (eds), Proceedings Volume 12413, Free-Space Laser Communications XXXV., 124131G, Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, vol. 12413, SPIE, SPIE LASE, San Francisco, California, United States, 28/01/23. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2649231

View all publications in research portal