Honorary Fellows: Professor Penny Endersby
For outstanding leadership and contributions to weather and climate science and services, and significant achievements as a government scientist.
Professor Penny Endersby is a truly inspirational leader who has had a distinguished career founded on significant expertise in physics with interdisciplinary applications.
Under her leadership as the Meteorological Office’s (Met Office) first female chief executive, the Met Office has recently announced plans to develop what is expected to be the most advanced supercomputing capability dedicated to weather and climate science in the world.
This brings enormous potential for driving new innovation and academic collaboration in physics both within the UK and internationally.
Prior to joining the Met Office, Endersby joined the Ministry of Defence as an armour researcher, conducting explosive trials and becoming the national expert on smart and electrically powered armour systems for fighting vehicles.
After this, she led several research groups in the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), covering materials science, acoustics, dispersion hazard prediction and more before leading Dstl’s physics department. During this time, she was instrumental in building up Dstl’s capabilities in cyber and data science studies, and increasing their pipeline of innovative research and intellectual property.
The significance of the impact of Endersby’s work in physics was acknowledged by the Institute of Physics when she earned her Fellowship, and was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2000.
In 2012, Endersby was appointed head of Dstl’s cyber and information division, and in 2018 she went on to become Dstl’s acting chief technical officer. Endersby also has a visiting professorship in electronics and computer science at the University of Southampton.
Her skills as a global leader in weather and climate science have been recognised through her appointment as vice-president of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and her attendance at the 2019 World Meteorological Organization Congress as the UK’s principal representative.