Can you tell us a bit about your job?

In February 2005 I started work as a Space Mission Scientist in the Space Department of QinetiQ, based in the UK. My job involves looking at every aspect of a space mission, analysing data, writing programmes and putting in place all the systems that are needed.

I'm currently working on a European Space Agency mission to deflect an asteroid. Thousands of tonnes of asteroid rock hit Earth each day and generally they are too small to notice, but when heavier rocks are heading our way it can be a lot more dangerous! We are going to deflect an asteroid that is roughly 100m wide and 30 million miles away. It is not on a collision course for Earth, but we will measure how much we can deflect it by to see what we are capable of doing should we really be threatened in the future.

My role is to calculate when would be the best time to go, what route to take and what instruments are needed.

Clearly, teamwork is very important for engineers. What do you find exciting about working with other people in your job?

When you are bouncing ideas off someone else, you come up with things that you might never have thought of on your own. Other people can offer different ways of looking at things which helps you see you problems more clearly.

Also, there are always ups and downs in any job. A model you have spent a long time working on might be proven not to work in all circumstances, or a decision gets made that you don't agree with. It’s good then to be working in a team so you can share your problems. You have to spend a fair bit of time at work, so it’s good to have fun with people while you are there.

Where have you travelled with work?

During my PhD I spent a lot of time at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, part of NASA, in California. That was fantastic!

Science and engineering are very global subjects, so I've been all over the world: Vancouver, Dubai, Switzerland, to name just a few places.

Have you met many interesting people through your work?

I have met some really great people - experts in different fields from all around the world. Most people who do these jobs are passionate about what they do and are really interesting to talk to.

I also got to meet Tony Blair at Downing Street at a reception for young scientists and engineers.

Some people think engineering is a boring profession. What would you say to them?

With engineering (as with many other subjects), you have to put a little effort in, but the results are worth it. I have worked on some of the most fascinating projects I can imagine so I definitely don't think it’s boring. Ultimately though, people should do what they enjoy.

There is this stereotype that scientists and engineers are generally uncool and unfashionable which is just not true. Don't simply write engineering off because of a misconception; find out more about it first!

How did you become interested in engineering?

When I was a child, I was amazed by the moon and stars and I dreamt about travelling to space. At school, I found I really liked the fact that there were laws governing the universe and using them you could explain and predict things. I had a particularly inspiring biology teacher who always pointed out the beauty and elegance to be found in the natural world.

Coming from a family of medics, for a long time I assumed that’s what I would do. At about the age of 16, however, I realised that I found pure science and maths the most interesting and rewarding subjects and decided to pursue these at university.

I chose a course in Natural Sciences at Cambridge which offered a very broad science background. I had the chance to examine dinosaur fossils in geology, make bouncy balls in chemistry and study quantum mechanics in physics amongst many other things.

From science I moved to engineering during my PhD, which was in modelling the effects of sunlight on the movement of spacecraft. This was using a lot of the science I had learned at school and at university and applying it to solve real world (or out of this world!) problems.

In school, which subjects are you glad you studied? How did they help you with your career as an engineer?

You need maths and physics to be an engineer. I enjoyed these at school and I still know some equations I use at work off by heart because of how much I used them at school!

Languages have also come in useful when collaborating on projects with people from different countries. For example, I used to work on a French satellite and all the documentation was in French, so I was glad I had learnt that at school.

What’s a good place for students to start finding out about more about engineering?

Talk to local engineering companies and try to get work experience over the summer. You can find details of these on the Internet. There are also loads of websites explaining what some scientists and engineers actually do in their jobs.

Many people think as an engineer you have to be good with your hands and at building things. Is that true?

Engineering is about using science and maths to solve problems in the real world. This might involve building things, but my work has never really required this. When I work on space missions, I generally create models or generate simulations on my computer. You definitely don't need to be good with your hands for my job.

Why do you think young people today should be interested in engineering?

It’s fun and useful and can lead to very rewarding careers. Technology is more relevant to all of us now than ever before and being an engineer offers you the opportunity to shape how technology affects our lives.