Emma Bunce

Emma J. Bunce (born 1975) is a British space physicist and Professor of Planetary Plasma Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester. to May 2022.

Early life and education Bunce grew up in Worthing. In 1989, she watched the Horizon documentary on Neptune with images taken by Voyager 2 and was inspired to become a space scientist.

She was educated at Davison High School (a C of E girls school) and Worthing College (a sixth form college), where she graduated in 1994. She used data from Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Ulysses. The interaction between Jupiter and the surrounding plasma environment is influenced by the magnetic field. On Jupiter, the plasma is mainly produced in the volcanic moon Io. She was appointed to the faculty at the University of Leicester in 2005. She was the first to analyse the UV aurorae of Saturn using the Hubble Space Telescope. The magnetosphere of Saturn rotates rapidly and plasma is produced via sputter of the icy moons. In 2009, she was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society Council and delivered the society's Harold Jeffreys Lecture.

She was promoted to reader in 2009 and professor in 2013. She is the Principal Investigator of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) instrument. MIXS was built in Leicester, launched in 2015 and will travel to Mercury. She delivered the 2016 National Space Academy keynote lecture. She is the principal investigator of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer instrument on the European Space Agency BepiColombo mission (to Mercury) and deputy lead on the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. BepiColombo will help to explain some of the mysteries of Mercury, including finding volatile sulphur and potassium. She contributed to the book Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences: A University Level Introduction in 2018.

Bunce was elected President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2019; she began her term on 26 June 2020 She has written for The Conversation.

She spoke at the New Scientist Live event in 2018.

She was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific in June 2020.

Honours and awards Bunce was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to astronomy and science education.

Her other awards and honours include: 2020–2022 – President of the Royal Astronomical Society 2009 – Harold Jeffreys Lecture 2003 – French Academy of Sciences Prix Baron Nicolet award for space physics 2002 – awarded the Royal Astronomical Society Blackwell Prize