Curriculum vitae

Dr Maria-Theresia Walach FRAS

Research Fellow/Lecturer in Space Plasma Physics, Lancaster University. Last updated: 24th March 2026.

Academic posts & education

Jan 2024 – present
UKRI STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow / Lecturer
Lancaster University, UK
Independent research fellow investigating the energy pathways of Earth's magnetosphere. Course lead for Space and Auroral Physics (PHYS390). Co-lead of ISSI International Team 654. Chair of the MIST Awards Taskforce. PhD supervisor and external PhD examiner at the University of Southampton (UK) and University of Bergen (Norway).
Mar 2017 – Dec 2023
Senior Research Associate
Lancaster University, UK
Researcher on NERC-funded projects on ionospheric electric field variability and whole-atmosphere modelling. Processed and archived 24 years of raw SuperDARN data (>30 TB). Winner of the 2022 British Science Association Early Career Lectureship Prize. Co-supervised PhD and Masters students.
2013 – 2017
PhD in Solar Wind-Magnetosphere Driving
University of Leicester, UK
Supervisors: Prof. S. E. Milan & Dr. T. K. Yeoman. Three first-author papers. Winner of the Rishbeth Prize for best student talk at the National Astronomy Meeting (2015).
2009 – 2013
MPhys Physics (1st class Honours)
University of Leicester, UK

Grants & prizes

2025
Diversity in Data Science and AI Champion Award
Lancaster University
2025
Gender and Diversity in Data Science Funding (Lancaster University)
£1.5k, Principal Investigator
2023
UKRI STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship
£514k FEC, Principal Investigator
2022
British Science Association Lecture Prize
Physical sciences and mathematics
2019
NERC Standard Grant
£704k FEC, Researcher Co-Investigator
2015
Rishbeth Prize
Best student talk, National Astronomy Meeting
2014
3-Minute Wonder Competition
Joint 1st place, IoP Midlands Division

Community leadership

Reviewer for Nature Astronomy, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, Annales Geophysicae, Space Weather and Frontiers in Astrophysics. Former elected member of MIST Council, where I developed and implemented the community's first EDI policy, organised annual conferences and sessions at the National Astronomy Meeting. Session convener at AGU Fall Meeting (2023), National Astronomy Meeting (2019), and ICS-14 (2019). Member of the SuperDARN Data Analysis, Data Standards, and Spacecraft Scheduling Working Groups. Member of the ESA/CAS SMILE ground-based support team. External PhD examiner for the University of Southampton (UK) and University of Bergen (Norway).

Teaching & supervision

Course lead for Space and Auroral Physics (PHYS390, yearly ~30-45 students) at Lancaster University. Primary supervisor of Ned Colville (PhD, 2025–present, Lancaster). Co-supervisor of Jack Bell (PhD, 2025–present, Lancaster Environment Centre). Secondary supervisor of Dan Naylor (PhD, 2024–present, Lancaster). Previously co-supervised PhD student Dr Elliott Day (2021–2024, with A. Grocott) and two Masters students in Statistics. Undergraduate laboratory supervision and small group teaching at the University of Leicester (2013–2017).

Selected media

Expert commentary for BBC News (2025), The Telegraph (2024), Business Insider (2024), Washington Post (2022), and Physics World (2021). Feature article for BBC Sky at Night Magazine (2023). Interviews on BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Leicestershire, and the Evening Standard Leaders Podcast.

Technical skills

Python and IDL for data analysis and publication figures. Core contributor to the SuperDARN Radar Software Toolkit (C). Website built with Jekyll and HTML. Some experience with coding in Fortran and R.