Computing LIVE! Student Event - Liddington, Swindon

Suzie Imber is an Associate Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester. She specialises in studying space weather; understanding the impact of the solar wind on the magnetised planets, in particular the Earth and Mercury.

Suzie is a Co-Investigator on the X-ray spectrometer on board the joint ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft currently en route to Mercury, and due to arrive in 2025.   

She was also the winner of the recent BBC 2 series entitled ‘Astronauts: Do You Have What it Takes?’ during which twelve candidates were put through astronaut training with NASA astronaut Chris Hadfield. She endured challenges such as taking her own blood, speaking Russian while in a centrifuge at 5g and carrying out emergency procedures on the NASA undersea astronaut training facility, Aquarius. Suzie will receive a letter of recommendation from Chris Hadfield to support her application to the European Space Agency astronaut training programme. 

Suzie was recently selected as one of 80 women from all over the world for a specialised leadership programme known as Homeward Bound.  It's a year-long, international programme designed to bring together a cohort of scientists and policy makers that will collaborate to seek solutions to climate change, engage with governments, and become the visible leaders of the future.   

She was also an England U21 lacrosse player, an elite rower, and is now a high altitude mountaineer. She has written computer code to automatically identify mountains in South America, and found hundreds of mountains that had never been identified before. She sets off to scale these incredibly remote, unclimbed mountains, exploring new regions of our planet and even discovering Incan ruins on the summits.

Dr Jessica Barker is an award-winning global leader in the human side of cyber security. She is Co-Founder and co-CEO of Cygenta, where she follows her passion of positively influencing cyber security awareness, behaviour and culture in organisations around the world. She has delivered face-to-face cyber security awareness sessions to over 35,000 people in 23 countries.

Jessica has been named one of the top 20 most influential women in cyber security in the UK and is the Chair of ClubCISO. She is a popular keynote speaker, including keynoting RSA San Francisco in 2020. Jessica is the go-to cyber security expert for many media outlets, appearing on BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 News, BBC radio and much more. In September 2020, Jessica’s book Confident Cyber Security was published by Kogan Page and immediately became an Amazon best-seller.

Dallas presents some of television’s most popular factual programmes including: Science of Stupid, Bang Goes the Theory, The Gadget Show, Stargazing Live, The Sky at Night, Supersized Earth, Time Scanners, City in the Sky, Egypt’s Lost Cities, The Treasure Hunters, and Britain Beneath Your Feet. His immersive documentaries lift the curtain on our human planet, giving audiences of all ages and backgrounds an exclusive backstage pass to some of the world’s most fascinating stories, ideas and places. 

Beyond television, Dallas is an author, speaker, and ambassador for STEM education. He works closely with several major outreach initiatives, including the British Council’s FameLab project, designing and running workshops for early career academics, helping them hone their science communication skills. He has won many plaudits for his services to the public understanding of science, including an Honorary Masters degree, an Honorary Fellowship from the British Science Association, honorary life membership for his work at the Royal Institution and an Arthur C Clarke Media Award for services to space science. 

Afternoon:

• Travel by coach from school, arrive at Liddington

Evening:

• Evening meal
• Team-based activity

Morning:

• Breakfast
• Attend our LIVE! student conference  
• Return to centre & enjoy lunch

Afternoon:

• High energy outdoor activity to keep everyone engaged
• Workshop & talk led by one of our conference speakers

Evening:

• Evening meal
• Time for students to relax & reflect on the day

Morning:

• Breakfast
• Outdoor adventure activity for an invigorating start to the day
• Team-based challenge followed by lunch

Afternoon:

• Check out & return to school