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
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, '', Optics Express, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 10140-10149.

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

Beesley, LF, Osborn, J, Wilson, R, Farley, OJD, Griffiths, R & Love, GD 2024, '', Applied Optics, vol. 63, no. 16, pp. E48-E53.

Conference contribution

Westerby-Griffin, L, Osborn, J, Farley, OJD, Griffiths, R & Love, GD 2023, . 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.

Westerby-Griffin, L, Osborn, J, Farley, OJD, Griffiths, R & Love, GD 2023, . 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.