Rate My Professor Emma Bunce

Bunce's research interests centre on the giant rotating magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, the mechanisms generating dynamic auroral emissions in their upper atmospheres, Mercury’s magnetosphere, Jupiter's polar magnetosphere via the NASA Juno mission, and Saturn’s magnetosphere via the NASA Cassini mission (ended 2017). She is the lead Principal Investigator for the Leicester-led Mercury Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer (MIXS) instrument on the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury (arrival 2026), Principal Investigator for MIXS, and Co-Investigator on the sister SIXS instrument (PI: Emilia Kilpua), as well as J-MAG and UVS instruments on the ESA JUICE mission. She serves as European Co-Chair for the ESA JUICE-NASA Europa Clipper Steering Committee and is a member of the ESA L4 Expert Committee. Her impactful work has been recognised with numerous honours, including OBE for services to Astronomy and Science Education (King’s New Year Honours 2023), EGU David Bates Medal for exceptional contribution to Planetary Science (2022), RAS Chapman Medal for outstanding contributions to gas giant planets (2018), Philip Leverhulme Prize for Astronomy & Astrophysics (2011), RAS Group Achievement Award for Cassini Magnetometer Team (2014), NASA Group Achievement Award for Cassini Magnetometer Team (2009), and Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2018-2022). Key publications encompass Nichols et al., 'Periodic emission within Jupiter’s main auroral oval' (Geophys. Res. Lett., 2017), James et al., 'Interplanetary magnetic field properties and timescales near Mercury’s orbit' (J. Geophys. Res., 2017), and Cowley et al., 'Magnetosphere-Ionosphere coupling at Jupiter: Expectations for Juno Perijove 1 from a steady-state axisymmetric physical model' (Geophys. Res. Lett., 2017).