
Dr Victoria Pearson
Senior Lecturer
Biography
Professional biography
2015 - present Senior Lecturer, Department of Physical Sciences (Planetary and Space Sciences)
2012-2015 Lecturer in Analytical Sciences, Department of Physical Sciences (Planetary and Space Sciences)
2009-2012 Lecturer in Analytical Sciences, Department of Chemistry
2003-2009 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute
Research interests
Associate Director, AstrobiologyOU:
Astrobiology and organic cosmochemistry, including:
- Processing of carbon-rich Solar System bodies including asteroids, Enceladus, Phobos and Mars
- Survival of organisms and biomarkers in potentially habitable environments
- Potential habitability of icy moons including Enceladus and Europa
Education, learning and engagement lead
Lead member, SPEAR:
BEERS: Socio economic benefits of ESA's E3 programme (ESA-funded)
SEABASS: Socioeconomic Analysis and Benefits Assessment of Spaceport Scotland (OU/Research England QR-SPF)
Teaching-related research and scholarship, including:
- Understanding passive withdrawals on S111 (eSTEem project 2022/25)
- Co-Investigator, Embedding and sustaining inclusive practices in STEM (HEFCE, 2017-2019)
- Investigating the careers of Staff Tutors in STEM for Athena SWAN (eSTEeM project 2015/16)
- Sonification of depictions of numerical data (eSTEeM project 2015/16)
- The accessibility of chemistry for visual impaired students (eSTEeM project 2014/15)
- Gender Differences in completion and credit obtained in Level 2 study in Physical Sciences (eSTEeM project 2014/15)
Publications are available on Open Research Online.
Current PhD students:
Amy Dugdale: Biosignature modification in the Oxia Planum region (STFC)
Lewis Sym: Hydrogen Availability In The Europan Subsurface (OU)
Martyna Hodges: Evaluation of the Societal Impacts of Space (OU)
Melissa Lewis: Development and validation of innovative, near real-time analytical tools to enable mitigation of contamination within cleanrooms of the UK spacecraft & satellite industry (STFC-CASE)
Silvio Sinibaldi: Planetary Protection: A New Era (OU)
Velislava Ilieva: The Influence Of Sulfur Cycling On Community Diversity In Hypersaline Mars Analogue Environments (CENTA)
Previous PhD students:
Alvaro del Moral: Microbial-Based Proxies for Europa's Habitability and Biosignature Detection (OU)
Alex Price: Microbial Nitrate-dependent Iron Oxidation and the Early Mars Environment (STFC)
Anushree Srivastava: Microbial Habitability of Magnesium Sulfate-rich Environments of Earth and Mars (OU)
Christopher Houghton: Defining a capitals approach to evaluating the socio-economic benefits of space exploration (FBL-OU)
Elliot Curtis-Harper: Biosignatures for life detection on Mars (STFC)
Grace Richards: The feasibility of in situ volatile analysis to investigate space weathering on Enceladus’ surface (Research England)
Michael Goodyear: Organic Chemistry and Mineral Interactions in the Solar System (OU Charter Studentship & STFC)
Peter Woolman: Biogeochemistry in the Deep Sub-surface Environment: the Key for Finding Potential Life on Mars. (EEE/OU)
Rachael Hamp: Geochemical cycling in the subsurface environment of Enceladus (STFC/OU)
Rebecca Wolsey: The chemical signatures of life on Mars (STFC)
Rebecca Wilson: Organic Material in Micrometeorites: Processes Affecting its Delivery to Planetary Environments (STFC)
Roy Adkin: Novel Fluorescent Sensors For Detecting Organic Compounds In Extra-Terrestrial Samples (STFC)
Steven Summers: Critical Zone bacterial ecology (OU)
Zoe Emerland: An experimental and numerical assessment of ejected martian biosignatures impacting Phobos (STFC)
Teaching interests
National Teaching Fellow (2021) and NTF mentor and reviewer
Faculty Accessibility Coordinator (OU science)
Students in Secure Environments champion (OU science)
Deputy Associate Dean, Equal opportunities (2011-2016)
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
S111 Questions in science (Module Chair (B presentation))
S/XS841 Masters project in physical sciences (associate lecturer)
OpenLearn - The Search for Water on Mars (lead academic and co-author)
OpenLearn - 15 minutes on Mars (lead academic and co-author)
And previously:
S201 Science and society (Module Deputy Chair and author of Topic 2 Water)
S350 Evaluating contemporary science (module team member)
S250 Science in context (Module team chair, also responsible for Topic 3, and an Associate Lecturer)
S104 Exploring science (Deputy Chair & Module Team member)
S240 Analytical science: health heritage and environments (Module team member & co-Chair, responsible for Book 2)
S804 Communicating Science (Associate lecturer)
S802 Science and the Public (Associate lecturer)
S810 MSc project module (Associate lecturer)
SXS810 MSc in Space Science and Technology (Associate Lecturer)
Equality, diversity and inclusion:
- Faculty Accessibility Coordinator (science)
- Co-chair, OU Accessibility Referral's Panel
- Member (formerly Chair), Cross Faculty Accessibility Working Group
- Member, OU Accessibility Core Team
- Member (formerly Chair), School of Physical Sciences Equality and Diversity Team (formerly Athena SWAN/Juno self-assessment team)
- Member, Faculty Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
And previously:
- Athena SWAN reviewer
- IoP Juno panel member
- Chair, Europlanet Diversity Committee and Diversity Officer for Europlanet-2024 Research Infrastructure
- Member, University’s STEM Gender Equality Steering Group
- Associate Editor of the International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology (GST).
Impact and engagement
- Chair STFC Nucleus award Panel panel
- STFC Leadership Fellowships in Public Engagement Panel member
- Formerly Chair STFC SPARK Awards
Co-Investigator on The Open University’s ‘Engaging opportunities’ project (Schools-University Partnership, SUPI) (2016-17)
Lead on RCUK SUPI/Science Learning Partnership 'Cutting Edge Science' project (2017)
Projects
Open University Rolling Grant 2008-2014 (SM-10-194-VP)
Organic molecules are found in many space environments, but what role do inorganic phases play in their formation and evolution? Carbonaceous meteorites contain within them an array of extraterrestrial organic species which are synthesised, in part, in the interstellar medium. Subsequent aqueous and/or thermal processing within the Solar System has influenced their molecular structures. The chemical environment where these changes take place are multi-component systems, yet little work has been undertaken to establish the role of inorganic phases in the synthesis, accumulation or alteration of organic species. This project intends to investigate the relationship between organic and inorganic phases in carbonaceous meteorites through an integrated analytical programme. This project requires an integrated chemical and mineralogical programme. It will involve the use of in-situ characterisation of organic and inorganic phases within meteorites (e.g. FTIR, nanoSIMS, TERS), and the development of extraction techniques (including FIB-SEM) for detailed investigations of extraterrestrial organic species at a molecular level (e.g. TEM, STEM, py-GCxGC-ToFMS, GCMS, XRD).
Understanding Origins at the Open University (SM-10-008-MG)
PSSRI Rolling Grant. A very wide range of projects that span sample analysis and the early solar system, to conditions on Mars, observational astronomy of asteroids, to instrumentation and engineering for future missions.
[E3] - Astrobiology at The Open University
Astrobiology is an emerging scientific field and is driven by the question ‘are we alone in the Universe?’ With an increasing number of life-detection/habitability missions, astrobiology is at the core of nations’ space strategies. The Open University Astrobiology Unit focuses on understanding how, and where, life might be found, by combining field work, laboratory simulations and mission data. Building on this expertise, Unit members are involved in key astrobiology-related missions and in developing planetary protection regulations. E3 funding will build capacity in line with future missions by furthering our understanding of extraterrestrial environments and potential life, through developing facilities to simulate these environments and investigating analogue sites. This is aimed at understanding if, and where, life may be found beyond the Earth. The Unit will develop its expertise to meet the new challenges that arise as the private sector and smaller nations develop exploration capacity. This includes supporting the sector to meet, and define, planetary protection requirements and to address space governance, for example, ensuring environmental sustainability of missions. The Unit will develop relevant education material for the expanding space sector, and it will work to ensure knowledge and expertise in astrobiology is used in a just and equitable manner. Sustainability of the Unit will be underpinned by commercial services, external funding, and University investment. The Unit will support the growth of astrobiology networks of industry, higher educational institutes and policymakers, and early career researchers, to ensure that the UK is globally recognised and influential within the field.
Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI)
The Europlanet 2024 Research Infrastructure (RI) provides free access to the world’s largest collection of planetary simulation and analysis facilities, data services and tools, a ground-based observational network and programme of community support activities. The project is funded through the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme and runs for four years from February 2020 until January 2024. The Europlanet 2024 RI consortium is led by the University of Kent, UK, and has 53 beneficiary institutions from 21 countries in Europe and around the world, with a further 44 affiliated partners. The project draws on the resources of the Europlanet Society to disseminate activities and outcomes and develop a more diverse community of users. Europlanet 2024 RI provides: Transnational Access to 24 laboratories in Europe and five field sites. Virtual Access to services and tools. Networking activities to support the community and provide rapid response observations to support planetary missions.
Equity in 'The Physics Degree'
This project seeks to investigate demographic differences in physics degree outcomes, primarily through the analysis of a large national data-set, and to suggest factors that might lead to a more equitable situation. The discrepancies mean that not only are certain groups of students, e.g. those of particular gender, socio-economic group or ethnicity or with a disability, considerably less likely to study the subject at higher education level, but also that those who do study have lower levels of retention in completing and passing their studies. This contributes to the “leaky pipeline” whereby the percentage of students and workers in particular demographic groups declines further and further. Various factors have been hypothesised as contributing to these discrepancies, and there is considerable variation between different higher education providers.
Planetary Science Consolidated Grant 2020-2023
STFC Planetary Science Consolidated grant - details to be entered here.
SterLim Phase 2
SterLim: Sterilisation limits for sample return planetary protection measures
Embedding and sustaining inclusive STEM practices
The proportion of students with disabilities registered on undergraduate STEM programmes has increased significantly over the past decade. Embedding and sustaining inclusive STEM practices project addresses how inclusive processes and academic practices become embedded within institutions, to enable equality of opportunity for students with disabilities studying STEM disciplines.
STFC Open 2018 DTP
STFC Open 2018 DTP
STFC DTG 2015 - 2016 (2015 Intake)
STFC DTG Quota 2015-16 AMS record for students starting on or after 01/10/2015
The feasibility of contemporary life elsewhere in our Solar System
The aim of this proposal is it determine the feasibility of contemporary life existing elsewhere in the Solar System. To address this aim we will 1) investigate microbial processes that could occur in proposed transient water on the surface of Mars and in the sub-surface oceans of Enceladus and Europa and 2) assess how the geochemistry within these habitable environments would differ over geological timescales in the presence and absence of life. We will use a unique approach, which combines simulation experiments with geochemical modelling.
Astronomy and Planetary Sciences at the Open University
The aim of our programme in Astronomy & Planetary Science at the Open University (APSOU) is to carryout detailed investigations of the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars and planets with a special emphasis on our own Solar System through a combination of observation, simulation, laboratory analysis and theoretical modelling. Our research is divided into two broad areas, reflecting the historical research strengths. This research programme is well-matched to both nationally- and internationally-agreed research imperatives. In its final report, A Science Vision for European Astronomy2, Astronet’s Science Working Group identified four broad areas of strategic importance; our research covers major topics within each of these areas. APSOU projects also map onto two of the four Science Challenges that form STFC’s Road Map3 for science (‘How did the universe begin and how is it evolving?’ and ‘How do stars and planetary systems develop and is life unique to our planet?’). The present APSOU programme comprises 20 projects (labelled A to T), of which 6 are for consideration by the Astronomy Observation (AO) panel, 1 for Astronomy Theory (AT), and 13 for the Planetary Studies (PL) panel. The AO projects cover the breadth of the 7 themes recognised as UK strengths in the report of STFC’s Astronomy Advisory Panel (AAP), whilst the 13 PL projects are directed towards answering questions raised in two of the three themes identified as UK strengths in the roadmap of STFC’s Solar System Advisory Panel (SSAP)4.
Engaging Opportunities (Extension)
In March 2015, RCUK extended the funding to projects participating in the School-University Partnerships Initiative by one year. The purpose of the 12-month extension (Jan-Dec 2016) is to enable our partnership with the Denbigh Teaching School Alliance to develop a particular emphasis on embedding and sustainability in the final phase of the Initiative.
Publications
Book Chapter
Planning for engaged research: a collaborative ‘Labcast’ (2017)
Extraterrestrial organic matter as recorded in meteorites (2010)
The 3.466 Ga "Kitty's Gap Chert," an early Archean microbial ecosystem (2006)
Journal Article
An inorganic silicate simulant to represent the interior of enceladus (2024)
Experimental Identification of Potential Martian Biosignatures in Open and Closed Systems (2024)
Habitability and Biosignature Formation in Simulated Martian Aqueous Environments (2023)
Planetary Protection in the New Space Era: Science and Governance (2020)
Simulating microbial processes in extraterrestrial, aqueous environments (2020)
New simulants for martian regolith: Controlling iron variability (2019)
Sonification of numerical data for education (2019)
Nitrate-Dependent Iron Oxidation: A Potential Mars Metabolism (2018)
Determination of Geochemical Bio-Signatures in Mars-Like Basaltic Environments (2017)
Maribo-A new CM fall from Denmark (2012)
The labelling of meteoritic organic material using osmium tetroxide vapour impregnation (2007)
Molecular and isotopic indicators of alteration in CR chondrites (2006)
Contamination by sesquiterpenoid derivatives in the Orgueil carbonaceous chondrite (2003)
Clay mineral-organic matter relationships in the early solar system (2002)
Presentation / Conference
Understanding passive withdrawal behaviour on an introductory science module (2025)
Composition and Habitability of Europa’s Ocean Over Time (2024)
Composition and Habitability of Europa’s Ocean Over Time (2024)
Composition and Habitability of Europa’s Ocean Through Time (2023)
The habitability of distinct martian environments (2023)
The habitability of water from distinct martian environments (2023)
Western Sahara salt plains as a potential novel Mars analogue (2022)
Identification of fluids accompanying bio-signature formation in martian analogue experiments (2021)
Transforming astrobiology research and innovation: embedding an ethos of engaged research (2021)
Modelling water-rock interactions in the subsurface environment of Enceladus (2021)
Development of Enceladus ice analogues for in situ analysis (2021)
Brine evolution and transport-driven fractionation of ocean fluids within Europa’s icy shell (2021)
Modelling ejected martian biomarkers impacting Phobos (2021)
Geochemical Energy Available to Microbes in Martian Impact Craters (2021)
Colour Peak:An analogue environment for the waters of late Noachian Mars (2020)
Thermochemical modelling of the subsurface environment on Enceladus (2020)
Characterising the Transfer of Biomarkers within the Phobos-Mars System (2020)
Modelling Water-Rock Interactions in the Sub-surface Environment of Enceladus. (2020)
Openness and collaboration in astrobiology education (2020)
Modelling the survival of ejected martian biomarkers impacting Phobos (2020)
Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars (2020)
Testing the habitability of distinct simulated martian environments (2020)
Modelling the Rock-Water Interactions in the Sub-surface Environment of Enceladus (2019)
Viable metabolisms in a simulated martian environments (2019)
Viable metabolisms in a simulated martian chemical environment (2019)
The microbial diversity of a sulfur-rich and saline cold pool in the Canadian high Arctic (2019)
Chemical and Textural characterisation of two Phobos regolith simulants (2019)
A New Simulant to Represent The Silicate Interior of Enceladus (2019)
Embedding and Sustaining Inclusive Practices in STEM (2019)
Arctic microbes – The phylogenetic and functional diversity of prokaryotes at Colour Peak (2018)
Viable metabolisms in a simulated martian chemical environment (2018)
Characterisation of novel isolates from an Enceladan analogue (2018)
Microbial growth in simulated martian environments (2018)
Simulating martian environments for microbial growth experiments (2018)
Prokaryotes at Colour Peak – An analogue for the Icy Moons (2018)
Modelling the Rock-Water Interface on Enceladus (2018)
The Physio-Chemical Properties for the Interior of Enceladus (2018)
Simulating the Martian Chemical Enivronment (2018)
Prokaryotes at Colour Peak – An analogue for the Icy Moons (2018)
A Carbonaceous Chondrite Based Simulant of Phobos (2017)
The impact of martian brine chemistry on the growth of microorganisms (2017)
The impact of martian chemistry on the metabolism of methanogenic archaea (2017)
The anaerobic community of an estuarine environment: an analogue for life on Mars. (2015)
Containers, sensors and samples to understand desert weathering (2015)
Subsurface Halophiles: An Analogue for Potential Life on Mars. (2015)
Subsurface Halophiles: An Analogue for Potential Life on Mars (2015)
The anaerobic community of an estuarine environment: an analogue for life on Mars (2014)
The anaerobic community of an estuarine environment: an analogue for life on Mars (2014)
Separation of Q from carbon in CR meteorites during stepped combustion (2012)
Virtual microscope for extra-terrestrial samples (2010)
Preliminary organic analysis of a new Danish carbonaceous chondrite (2009)
Comprehensive Organic Analysis of Antarctic Micrometeorites (2008)
Carbon and nitrogen cosmochemistry of the CO3 group (2008)
Identification (or otherwise) of martian carbon in martian meteorites (2008)
Identification of Trace Organic Components in the CR Chondrites by 4D TOFMS (2007)
The Moss (CO3) meteorite: an integrated isotopic, organic and mineralogical study (2007)
Organic constitution of the CO3 chondrites and implications for asteroidal processes (2007)
The rocks from space initiative and the space safari (2007)
The effect of atmospheric entry heating on micrometeorite volatile composition (2006)
Aqueous alteration of Nakhlites: implications for water on Mars (2005)
Pyrolysis-GC×GC-TOFMS to characterize carbonaceous chondrites (2005)
Organic-inorganic spatial relationships in carbonaceous chondrites (2002)
Organic indicators of alteration in the CR chondrites (2002)
The association between organic matter and clay minerals in carbonaceous chondrites (2001)
The macromolecular constitution of the CR chondrites (2001)
The Tagish Lake chondrite and the interstellar parent body hypothesis (2001)
Analysis of Tagish Lake macromolecular organic material (2001)
Report
Engaging Opportunities: Connecting young people with contemporary research and researchers (2018)