Dr Leah-Nani Alconcel PhD, FHEA, MRAeS

Dr Leah-Nani Alconcel

School of Metallurgy and Materials
Associate Professor

Contact details

Address
School of Metallurgy & Materials
University 麻豆精选
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鈥檚 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: .

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鈥檚 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 . 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 麻豆精选 PI (2023-25)
  • Space Academic Network Fellow (2021-22),

Voluntary work

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

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Jones, G, Coe, M, Beesley, L, Alconcel, L-N, Martorella, M & Gashinova, M 2025, '', IEEE Transactions on Radar Systems.

Bousiotis, D, Alconcel, LS, Beddows, D, Harrison, R & Pope, F 2023, '', Environment International, vol. 174, 107907.

Drabek-Maunder, E, Greaves, J, Fraser, HJ, Clements, DL & Alconcel, LN 2017, '', International Journal of Astrobiology, pp. 1-8.

Alconcel, LNS, Fox, P, Brown, P, Oddy, TM, Lucek, EL & Carr, CM 2014, '', Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 95-109.

Conference contribution

Jones, G, Coe, M, Marchetti, E, Alconcel, LN, Cherniakov, M & Gashinova, M 2024, . 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.

Coe, M, Jones, G, Gashinova, M, Cherniakov, M, Martorella, M, Alconcel, LN & Marchetti, E 2024, . in 2024 International Radar Symposium (IRS). Proceedings International Radar Symposium, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 233-238, 2024 International Radar Symposium, IRS 2024, Wroclaw, Poland, 2/07/24. <>

Jones, G, Coe, M, Alconcel, LS, Cherniakov, M & Gashinova, M 2024, . in EGU General Assembly 2024., EGU24-8823, EGUsphere, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14/04/24.

Alconcel, L-N, Jones, G, Coe, M, Gashinova, M & Cherniakov, M 2024, . in EGU General Assembly 2024., EGU24-8635, EGUsphere, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14/04/24.

Bousiotis, D, Alconcel, L-N, Harrison, RM, Beddows, DCS & Pope, F 2023, . in EGU General Assembly 2023., EGU23-1011, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24/04/23.

Alconcel, L-N, Oddy, T, Brown, P & Carr, C 2023, . in EGU General Assembly 2023., EGU23-10104, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24/04/23.

Alconcel, LS, Oddy, T, Brown , P & Carr, C 2022, . in EGU General Assembly 2022., EGU22-1527, European Geosciences Union, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23/05/22.

Alconcel, LS, Fox, P, Colgan, C, Brown , P, Carr, C & Oddy, T 2016, . in EGU General Assembly 2016., EPSC2016-1798, European Geosciences Union.

Alconcel, LS, Fox, P, Kellock, S, Brown , P, Lucek, E, Carr, C & Dougherty, M 2013, . in American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2013., IN13A-1549, American Geophysical Union.

Gloag, JM, Lucek, EA, Alconcel, LN, Balogh, A, Brown, P, Carr, CM, Dunford, CN, Oddy, T & Soucek, J 2010, . in H Laakso, M Taylor & CP Escoubet (eds), Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. 202469 edn, Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, no. 202469, vol. 0, Springer Science and Business Media B.V., pp. 109-128, 15th Workshop on Cluster Active Archive, 2008, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 9/03/08.

Poster

Alconcel, LS, Jones, G, Coe, M, Gashinova, M & Marchetti, E 2023, '', UK Space Conference 2023, Belfast, United Kingdom, 21/11/23 - 23/11/23.