Storm warning: mitigating the impact of space weather on critical infrastructure

Simon Machin

Simon Machin is the manager of the Met Office space weather programme, having worked in the Met Office space weather team for over 15 years.

As well as providing the UK national weather and climate prediction services, the Met Office owns the space weather risk on behalf of the UK government. This drives the key role to deliver the UK’s operational space weather capability. This includes delivery of space weather warnings, alerts and services to government, defence, Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), industry and the public.

Simon is responsible for oversight of space weather services and direction of scientific research to operations, leading to the delivery of space weather services aligned to user requirements. He also has a key role in ensuring that Met Office’s responsibilities under the UK Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy are delivered to government. The overarching aim being to develop understanding of space weather effects and impacts, and mitigations underpinned by robust science. 

Simon’s career spans over 40 years, much of which has been dedicated to supporting defence and security, during which Simon has held roles such as Chair of the NATO Technical Space Weather Panel. Alongside expertise in space weather Simon is a qualified meteorologist, climatologist and analyst, having worked in a variety of roles where he has contributed to developing and applying understanding the natural environment and natural physical phenomena to enable robust decision making to support resilience and successful operations.

Ravindra Desai

Dr Ravindra Desai is an assistant professor in space weather in the University of Warwick’s Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, and holds honorary positions at Imperial College London and the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge.  

In 2023, Ravindra was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society Winton Award for outstanding contributions in the field of space plasma physics. Ravindra’s research focusses on understanding and developing state-of-the-art computational models for space weather forecasting and he is involved in several current and upcoming space missions. These include the ESA / CAS SMILE mission to image the global magnetosphere using x-rays, the NASA / ESA / JAXA / CSA gateway space station within the Artemis program, and the ESA / NASA solar orbiter mission. He is also leading a number of space technology development efforts focussing on developing novel quantum sensors for use in space. 

Matthew Allcock

Dr Matthew Allcock is a space weather consultant working to improve resilience of critical infrastructure across Europe. He led the SWIMMR S6 project on space weather risk to UK critical national infrastructure which involved interviews and workshops with 100+ industry representatives across the space, energy, communications, and transport sectors, leading to recommendations to policymakers on key ways to improve infrastructure resilience.

He has also worked on several projects for the European Space Agency, including space weather risk to autonomous transport and modelling of geomagnetically induced currents in electricity transmission networks. Previously he worked at EDF Energy, Europe’s biggest nuclear energy provider, leading the programme to ensure that nuclear power stations remain resilient to space weather and other natural hazards such as flooding, rainfall, and climate change.

Kevin Pepper

Kevin is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology. He is a principal nuclear safety inspector working for the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). Since joining ONR in 2010, he has worked to protect society by securing safe nuclear operations. This has involved ensuring facilities are being maintained and operated safely as well as more recently leading the electrical assessments of new designs through the generic design assessment process. 

Kevin also works with the international community in understanding electrical issues at nuclear facilities having helped establish and previously chaired the Nuclear Energy Agency’s working group for electrical power systems, as well as helping author several International Atomic Energy Agency guidance documents. 

Kevin became a Chartered Electrical Engineer having graduated from the University of Southampton. He has worked across the electricity supply industry in both technical and commercial roles. His experience spans generation, including nuclear, coal and gas power plants, through to electricity distribution networks.