Suzie Imber is a planetary scientist, high altitude mountaineer and all round explorer, who has led a fascinating career full of incredible adventures. Through resilience, ambition and perseverance in the face of adversity, Suzie has embarked on some of the most awe inspiring pursuits, and shares her experiences as an after dinner and inspirational speaker. Specialising in space, Suzie is a space plasma physicist who has worked for NASA as a Research Scientist, responsible for studying ‘space weather’. Combining the use of satellite and ground based data, Suzie has been involved in a number of missions including the BepiColombo Mission to orbit Mercury, which she is currently participating in the success of from land.
Experienced in space and planetary science, Suzie applied and won the BBC Two show ‘Astronauts, Do You Have What it Takes?’. Challenged to a number of astronaut tasks by former space explorer Chris Hadfield, Suzie proved herself and won the backing of Chris to pursue an astronaut application. Early in her career, Suzie Imber studied physics at Imperial College London, where she achieved an impressive first-class honours degree, and landed herself an internship at NASA.
Inspired by her work in the Goddard Space Flight Center for NASA, Suzie undertook a PhD to further research magnetopause reconnection. Continually striving to learn and discover more led Suzie to return to education to inspire the next generation as a Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester. In addition to her out of this world experience in space, Suzie Imber has challenged herself as a mountaineer. With the aim of exploring undiscovered mountain tops, she has written a computer code that automatically identifies unexplored areas of the Himalayas and Andes mountain ranges. In 2021, Suzie was honoured with the prestigious Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award and Lecture, an award that recognises outstanding contribution to STEM - accompanied by a medal of silver gilt and a grant of £40,000.
Not content with simply identifying the areas, Suzie has gone on to embark on yearly ascents to the most remote mountain areas in the world. Evidently a motivated individual with an inspirational story, Suzie Imber is in demand to share her experiences with audiences in a bid to motivate them to achieve the impossible and apply perseverance to reach their goals. From the Royal Albert Hall to conferences in Hong Kong, Suzie has already established herself as a globally recognised inspirational speaker. Guaranteed to leave audiences with a fresh perspective and new inspiration, Suzie Imber is the ideal after dinner speaker for any occasion.
How to hire Suzie Imber
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Suzie Imber for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Suzie's official speaking topics are listed below.
- Planetary science
- The environment and sustainability
- Resilience
- Peak performance
- Leadership
- Women in STEM
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
Feedback from In-Person Events:
"We were delighted with Suzie, thank you. The lunch went really well and the pupils (and staff) enjoyed what Suzie had to say, she was a great blend of humour and inspiration. Thank you very much for the connection!" - Shirley, St Joseph’s College
"Just wanted to say a massive thanks for you support last night - The audience loved it!" - Kelly, Okoru
"Thank you so much for coming to our event last night and for your wonderful and inspiring presentation to our crowd. You hit absolutely the right notes for what we are hoping to achieve with Antarctica In Sight – to engage with Antarctica, its past, present and future and how we might understand and protect it - I couldn’t be happier. The feedback we have had from the event has been tremendous, and we owe that in no small part to you, the room was buzzing afterward." - Camilla, UKAHT
"[The event] was incredible. A few technicalities threatened to throw us off course, but we managed them all in the end and Suzie was calm and collected and gave a fascinating presentation." - Chris
"Suzie was excellent." - Shameer, InvestIN Education
Feedback from Virtual Events:
"If you could pass on our thanks to Suzie, what a great talk, had amazing feedback from the team, they found it really interesting and informative and I just wanted Suzie to know that she had a massive impact on them. We had 94 participants at one point which is pretty impressive when we are all zoom fatigued and I have had many requests for the recording from those who couldn’t see it. Suzie brought a greater understanding on climate change to us all." - Samantha, HR & Office Coordinator, INTELEX
- 2021 - Awarded the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award and Lecture
- 2019 - Gave the Claudia Parsons Memorial Lecture at Loughborough University
- 2017 - Won BBC Two's Astronauts, Do You Have What It Takes?
- 2014 - Awarded the Leverhulme Trust fellowship
- 2011 - Became a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Leicester
- 2008 - Joined NASA as a Research Scientist
- 2008 - Completed a PhD at the University of Leicester
- 2005 - Graduated from Imperial College London
- Visiting professor at the University of Michigan
- Co-investigator on the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS)
