I gained a Masters degree in Control Systems from the University of Sheffield in 1993 and a PhD in Remote Sensing from the University of Southampton in 1998.  Afterwards, I worked as a research assistant on the EU Framework 4 project FLIERS (Fuzzy Land Information from Environmental Remote Sensing), based in Electronics and Computer Science, before commencing a three-year contract at the end of 1999 as a researcher on an EPSRC funded project on the long-term evolution of the space debris environment.  This work led to a decade-long working relationship with Dr Graham Swinerd, the development of the DAMAGE space debris model, my work for the UK Space Agency, numerous publications and an inspiring (and also challenging) journey into the realm of space debris and Near Earth Objects.  For the last six years I have represented the UK Space Agency (previously the British National Space Centre) in Working Group 2 of the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) and I now lead the Group's research on space debris modelling.  In 2011 I was nominated as the United Kingdom's representative to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) Expert Group B (Space Debris, Space Operations and Tools to Support Collaborative Space Situational Awareness), supporting the activities of the UN COPUOS STSC Working Group on the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities.